Ultimate 2500 point Ork Walker army list

So today is the big day. Its 9am and I have already set up the board outside. Weather forecast is for a nice warm day with low wind. Perfect. Just had a text from the opposition to say that he is on the way so I need to get the kettle on. The Dark Templar is planning to Tweet key events during the day, (details on his blog). That will be a first for us and should be interesting.

So what army did I pull together? Your going to like this....

I have taken on board the Ork Walker discussions that have been going on and pulled a list together that I really love the feel of. It should really wipe the floor with anything being faced, he said confidently. It contains the Stompa, Gorkanaut, Deffdredd and 6 x Killa Kans. This is supported by a Battlewagon and Dakkajet. There is a unit of gretchin to make up the Troops numbers so that it is an Ork Horde Detachment granting Boss of Da Waaagh and The Greenskin Hordes special rules.

The plan remains - 'shoot the choppy and chop the shooty'

HQ (min of 1)
Warboss in Mega Armour, Lucky Stick, Bosspole (In the Battlewagon)
Painboy (with the Warboss)
Big Mek with Kustom Force Field (in the Stompa)
Mekboy (with the Warboss)
Mekboy (in the Stompa)

Elites
3 x Meganobs with kombi skorchas (in the Gorkanaut)

Troops (min of 3)
15 Boyz with Nob and Power Klaw, Bosspole (with the Warboss)
18 Boyz with Nob and Power Klaw, Bosspole, 2 x Rokkits (in the Stompa)
10 Gretchin with Runtherd and squig hound

Heavy Support (can take 4 because of the mission rules)
1 x Deffdread with close combat Klaws
6 x Killa Kans with skorchas
1 x Gorkanaut
1 x Battlewagon with 4 x rokkits, killkannon, ram

Fast Attack
1 x Dakkajet with 3 sups shoot as, flyboss

Lord of War
1 x Stompa

Note - the Battlewagon could easily be downgraded to a Trukk. Stick the Warboss in the Stompa and spend the additional points to get another Trukk load of Boyz at which point the Gretchin are not needed. No-one should be shooting at the Trukks anyway as there is too much other stuff that has amazing killing ability and they are Assault vehicles with could be advantageous.

So in theory, the Stompa goes straight up the middle moving and shooting anything that can shoot back. 'Shoot the Shooty'. Move him towards the most dangerous shooting attack so that he can 'Chop the Shooty' as soon as possible. The Boyz rokkits also shoot out of the Stompa. The Kans and the Dread follow behind moving and running to keep up. Move them towards shooty stuff. Again 'chop the shooty' as soon as possible. The Gorkanaut takes one side and again moves and runs. The battlewagon takes the other side and moves as far as possible. The Dakkajet is there to provide some arial support, if needed, and if not to just shoot from distance. The Gretchin can hang back and grab any objective at the back as the rest of the army surges forward.

The Kustom Force Field makes sure that any incoming shots bounce off the Stompa.

After the first turn everything in the Ork army is ready to descend on the enemy with awesome close combat abilities. Declare the Waaagh and give no mercy. The Boyz in the Stompa can hang on for a bit and get out later to mop up the remaining carnage, as can the meganobz.

Now all you Ork players just know that you want to give this a go. Waaagh!!!!!

The question is - what will happen when we start rolling dice? Will the plan survive or need to be altered? And so the fun begins.

Ork Lessons Learned

A few days have passed and I have had a chance to ponder the big battle on Sunday.

The plan had been simple enough Da Cunnin Plan "Shoot da choppy and chop da shooty" !

Did I keep to the plan? Zagdakka pondered .... while kicking back with his new Painboy 'drug dealer' beside his wheels ;-)

Well now - I treated the Obliterators as potential 'shooty & choppy'. I shot them with the right weapons Killkannon and Power Vomit but they made some saves and in the end my Warboss Zagdakka chopped 'em up. Relative success. They did some damage in between times though.

I attempted to 'chop the choppy' when I launched my Waaagh at the berserkers. That was stupid. I tried to 'chop the choppy'!! Not only that but I played the Orks with T3 not T4 and forget to use Furious Charge which would have added +1 to their Strength. I let my Boyz down badly there! and even worse, complained about how fragile they were - I owe them another chance to show me what they can do! Eventually I 'shot the choppy' using the Killkannon and that worked as I took out some of the Iron Fist HQ.

I 'chopped the shooty' when I attacked the Noise Marines with my HQ and that was very successful indeed. My error was that I should have recognised the peril I was in once they were dead. Charge multiple units should have been the tactic. Lesson learned for the future!! Assess the medium term risk.

My Mega Nobs and Warboss chopped up the Chaos Marines and made short work of them so I reckon that is another 'chop the shooty' success.

My 'shooty' Warbuggies and Tankbustas struggled to get in on the action. The Tankbustas took out a Rhino which provided me with much needed cover - a real result. I am liking those Bomb Squigs - they did the business. I think that the buggies need more numbers to be effective. BS2 is just very low even when the Rokkits are Twin-linked.

The Tankbustas fired out of the back of the their Trukk but they were as pin pricks really. They survived to the end only because they were never the number one threat. I played them poorly I reckon!

The survivors were few enough.

But 'enough' is the operative word here. I was fully committed to the objective. I was not distracted and played ultra aggressive!! It is the Ork way and despite my playing the Orks too soft we got there in the end. I liked my 1500 point Ork Army choice and on another day it would have played much differently.

The Dark Templar has reviewed his own performance, a little harshly I feel. It was a battle that was very much in the balance. He spanked me good and proper in the early rounds.

2500 points is the next outing and I am looking forward to it already.

Ork Meganobz - are they worth it?

I have had some Mega Armoured Nobz for some time. I had only painted up one of them and this was to go into my unit of 'Ard Boyz. However he slowed them down and this option fell out of favour.

They have been a 'project' for some time in that I knew I should finish painting the other two. So many 'projects' so little time. Anyway I have invested the necessary time and they are coming along nicely.

The question will be - do they warrant a place in the army list?

Three Meganobz cost 120 pts. They come as 2 Nobz and a character boss nob. In my case that will be the guy with the iron gob. You can have upto 7 more in the squad at a cost of 40 pts each.

They are S4, T4, W2 with 3 attacks. Doubling the S gives you a S8 Power Klaw. They also have Furious Charge so an extra attack on the charge. Interestingly if they are with Ghazghkull they can run and charge when the Waaagh is called!!

There is the option to replace the weapon set with two Killsaws which have the Armourbane special rule such that you roll an extra dice for Armour Penetration. You would also get an extra attack for having the pair but then lose out on shooting. The result would be 5 attacks with a S8, AP2 weapon on the charge, per model - emmmm! You just know that there will be world of hurt on the receiving end of that combination.

Shooting is not that great with a BS of 2 so dropping the gun might be right decision. However there is the option to take a Kombi Scorcha. The Scorcha is a template weapon so very reliable and is S5, AP4, Assault 1. You could do a lot of damage with that too.

Maybe a mixture is the way to go?

And then how do you move them around - in a transport? Hardly a Trukk, so maybe a Battlewagon. The points are starting to add up though. Or do you just march them up the board surrounded by Boyz?

And now to an observation - I have seen the new Maga Nobz kits, which look magnificent by the way. It took me a while to work out that the guy in the picture is not actually a Mega Nob at all - he is in fact a Big Mek in Mega Armour with a Teleport Blasta! Instant Death! I just got to get me one of those!!! The upgrade costs 25 pts - R12", S8, AP2, Assault 1, Blast, Teleported (any To Wound roll of a 6 is instant death). Its a marine killer all right.

And isn't the Grot Oiler cool?

Come along Mr Postman, hurry along now!