Continuing on in my review of the Ork codex in an attempt to rile imaginations and inspire lists, I am on to the Elites section of the dex.
While I’m of the opinion that the majority of the units in the dex range from useful to undercosted; I’d have to say a good number of solid choices reside in the Elites section. It is here that a lot of the shortcomings of the Orks are countered in a variety of ways.
Nobz:
What’s not to like about Nobz? Relatively inexpensive at 20 points a pop and pretty hardy in melee, what with their 5 S5 attacks on a charge at I4. I’ve had plenty of success running a unit of 10 in a trukk with no upgrades (other than a stikkbomb chukka on the trukk and a reinforced ram). For a paltry 250 points (including the trukk) you get a unit that will beat down most units on the charge. Dishing out 16.5 wounds (before saves) against WS4-WS7/T4 enemies, or a goofy 27.39 wounds (before saves) against WS3/T3 units. And while that’s a perfectly fine option, most people invest in making the unit a bit more formidable by investing in various things.
The main thing people do with regular nobz squads is to create enough variety in wargear that you can play fun wound-allocation games to keep the unit alive longer. In addition, the Painboy and Waagh Banner are no-brainer additions that really up the survivability and killing power of the unit substantially.
With just the painboy, waagh banner, a power klaw, and two big choppas in the same trukk, you’re looking at a unit that costs 330 points and will just brutalize most units on the charge. Throw a warboss into there (who also makes them a troops choice!) and you have a close combat unit that most armies would be terrified of.
Personally, I think keeping them pretty cheap is the best way to go, 9 basic guys, one powerklaw, and the Waagh banner in a trukk with ram and chukkas is 290 points and can handle almost any situation fairly well. (They statistically wipe out a tac squad on the charge…).
Another common internet-favored unit is the Nob Biker squad. Putting Nobz on bikes is an awesome buy as it makes them way more rugged and fast. An absurdly effective unit and the backbone of a lot of competitive Ork builds. If I’m introducing you to the idea of a Nob on a bike, then I don’t know what to tell you…
Mega Nobz:
A great unit with terrible model support that I see almost never. As I mentioned in the HQ article, they are best off in an army with Grotsnik to get those invul saves. Without them, they are pretty susceptible to power fists and such. However, even without it, they are probably one of the killiest units out there. 3 Mega-armored Nobz can just plain GUT most units when they charge (5 wounds against almost everyone) and cost only 120 points… 5 of these guys in a trukk is a nasty piece of work, as they can kill a Trygon on the charge (lose 1.5 guys, then deal out 6.6 wounds) and cost only 240 points. Against units that lack power weapons/power fists, they are just brutal. They can wade into an IG blob and wear it down to nothing.
Beyond all that, they also are ridiculous against vehicles by packing more power klaw per point than anything else in the Ork dex (regular nob+power klaw is 45 points…). Those 3 guys in a trukk are only 160 points and you can send them after that Land Raider or what not and have a reasonable chance of taking it down (S9 attacks have about an 11% chance to destroy or immobilize AV14, so you’d need 10 S9 hits to reasonably guarantee a kill/immobilize) if it was moving 6″ or less. About a 68% chance if it moved but less than 6″, about a 136% chance if it didn’t move. Dips to a 23% chance if it moved over 6″. That’s obviously the worst-case scenario in taking down vehicles; against vehicles with AV10 on the rear, they just cut through ’em like butter (44% chance of destroy/immobilized result per S9 hit).
Only real drawbacks of this unit is the slow and purposeful thing, meaning you can get bogged down and not get to where you need to be. Means that they pretty much MUST have a transport.
The other thing that sucks is that there just AREN’T enough models for these guys out there. I think if there were plastic ones, you’d see this unit get a lot more play.
Burna Boyz:
Burna Boyz are one of those units that I think people just gave up on too early when looking at them. “15 points for T4 and 6+ save!? They’ll just get shot to pieces and do nothing!” Please see the Battlewagon for the way to make these guys sing.
Putting them in a battlewagon (with Red Paint and big shoota for a low, low 100 points) makes them much more survivable (especially if you have a big mek with KFF on board as well!) and allows you to get at the enemy quicker. Now, you can either move 13″, get out, waagh, and assault for a potential 26.99″ charge into the enemies forces, doing 3S4 power weapon attacks per model that survives. A 15-strong unit will devastate most units on the charge, outside of a huge pack of grey hunters or wolf guard, but most combat MEQ units will just fold to them. These guys represent an Ork general’s best bet against TH/SS terminators as they strike first and bypass the 2+ save. Sure, 15 of them will only take down ~4 termies, but unless the squad is uber big, that’s fine as if the termies are about 6 in number (equivalent point value), then the Orks are going to probably draw or lose by very little and then grind out a win.
But that’s the noob way of using them; a better strategy is to move up 13″ turn one, and then 7″ on turn two, and then put that tasty flame template out there another 7″ or so. Even if you only touch two models, that gets multiplied by 15 to 30 S4 hits or 5 dead MEQ… Heaven forbid you get 4 hits with that template because then its a wiped 10 man tac squad most likely, or blob of 40 Guardsmen disappearing. And going back to that terminator situation, even two guys hit means you should probably see 2-3 dead terminators. Sure it’s 325 points total, but you could easily run three of those units, with a Big Mek with KFF covering all of them and still have enough points for a lot more stuff out of FA and Troops. If you wanted to make it extra dirty, run the battlewagons with Deffrollas so each is a threat to vehicles as well.
Basically, for every unit of Burna boyz, you HAVE to bring a battlewagon to make them useful, but holy poo do they become useful!
I’m predicting we see more of these guys out there with FnP getting handed out like candy on Blood Angels. This will provide a good way of dealing with it in melee.
Tankbustas:
Tankbustas are a unit that I again see very little of and I’m confused about that. Again, I think with Nids becoming really susceptible to S8 ap3, we’ll start seeing more of these guys. Tankbustas suffer from the same deficiency that Burna Boyz do, they NEED a battlewagon to be effective. However, the nice thing about them is that they have range on their side! A unit of 10 with Nob with Power Klaw and boss pole, and 2 tankhammers is only 175 points, plus the points of the battlewagon. Now that’s a unit that represents a credible threat to most vehicles at range and in melee. 7 s8 shots at BS2 is going to be enough to take down light vehicles pretty reasonably, and with a range of 30″ effectively with the vehicles’ movement, that’s pretty snazzy. Sure you run into the save AV14 wall as the rest of the army, but at least you have S10 attacks, which have a better chance of destroying Land Raiders (about a 20% chance of immobilizing/destroying av14 per hit).
All in all though, most of what they do can be done by killa kans or rokkits in shoota boy squads, so I don’t think they are as solid a buy as the rest of the choices; but I think spamming 3 units of 15 for 45 rokkit shots a turn coming out of 3 battlewagons is going to be tough for most mech armies to deal with. (Each unit should destroy/immobilize a Chimera each turn). However, a more dependable way to take out light vehicles is about to be discussed.
Lootas:
Probably the most potent part of the Ork codex. For those who don’t know, Lootas fire D3 S7 ap4 shots up to 48″. A squad of 15 can dish out a ridiculous 45 shots in one turn, which will slag most light vehicles even if they have a cover save. The main power that these guys have is the 48″ range. Most ork shooting is pretty close range, so the ability to reach out and touch the enemy with lootas is unprecedented. Since they don’t need to get close to the enemy, they don’t need a battlewagon like tankbustas and burna boyz. Also, they can grab cover in area terrain pretty easily.
About the only thing that messes with these guys is AV14 and units that ignore cover saves (I’m looking at you: Thunderfire Cannon!). Heck, even against units with high armor saves like terminators, the sheer volume of wounds means you can bring them down. In a game of mechanized forces, Lootas offer an almost too-obvious answer for dealing with them. They’re also rock-solid against MCs as the S7 en masse will usually take a wound or two off even the toughest creatures.
Again in the spamming scenario, for only 675 points, you can have 45 lootas reliably destroying a light vehicle every turn or doing 24-25 wounds (before saves) on any infantry unit that is T5 or less per turn.
Lootas should probably be about 20 points a pop, but I’m not going to complain too much. >:)
Kommandos:
The cheapest Elites choice, they are a bargain at 10 points given that they come with stikkbombs and start close to the enemy, therefore eliminating the need to be in a vehicle or in a big mob (in order to have enough boyz on the charge). They also have access to burnas, which makes them really versatile.
I’d rate them as moderately effective on their own in a standard load out with Nob with PK/bosspole and two burnas and 15 strong (220 points). If you outflank them in lots of situations, they can do some good damage, or you can have them infiltrated up 18″ from the enemy and then you’re almost guaranteed to get a turn 2 charge with them. If you are bringing other speed elements like Stormboyz or trukk boyz or burna boyz in a BW, then its going to pressure your opponent really early and you have a good chance of hitting home and causing some serious harm.
But really, if you’re going to be bringing Kommandos, why wouldn’t you be bringing Snikrot!?!? Snikrot has Warboss stats at a bargain. He deals out 6s6 attacks at WS5 and re-rolls missed attacks on the turn he charges. He’s great at taking down vehicles with AV10 on the rear as S6 is plenty for that, and he does ~3.5 wounds (before saves) on MEQs. But what makes him so awesome is his ability to bring in a unit onto whatever board edge you want. Snikrot is the ultimate answer to gunline armies like blobed up IG, some Tau, or static-shooting marine lists. He’s such a disruption that a big unit of 15 with him and two burnas is a bargain at 280 points. They’d do 20-21 wounds to a unit of poorly placed IG and take 6-7 wounds in return.
Since I run a blood axe-themed army, I started out running Snikrot, but I felt dirty doing it as he just seemed to be a “win” button. However, in the vicious circles of ‘Ard Boyz and the like, why not?
Anyway, I think the elites section is definitely a strong section and I’d like to see more people delve into some of the lesser used units like Burnaboyz and Meganobs and really try them out. The few times I’ve used either, I’ve been very satisfied.
Waagh on!
Questions for Comment:
- What are the best and worst elites choices for Orks?
- Are Nob Bikers dead and gone?
- Is their ever a too many lootas?