Official Orcs and Goblins Tactia WIP.

[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

"Roit, lisn up gud youse stinkin' lumpz a green. Wots dat? Yew ent green? Is youse humies? You'd best not be snivvling spies, we ates them.

Anyweyz, fer youse lergittymutt greeny jenroolz we'se puttin tugevver a hole lot uf tacticses so's we dont ferget em. Puts yer ideas down 'ere before I zog yer!"

*Ahem*, thanks Gorfib, anyway, to put it another way, we're writing a tacticaby comittee! If anyone has any ideas about what they want to put in it, then please feel free to add something, or to let us know what topic you want to write on, and I'll endeavor to keep that topic open. Anyone can add anything if they feel another issue on a topic needs to be raised, the list is there for me to see how far from finished we are. Right now I'll just write down a brief outline of the unit by unit breakdown, but if anyone wants to add, well, pretty much anything*, please do, it'll all go into the big mixing pot to produce a lovely looking cake at the end. And possibly a useful tactica.

MAGIC
-Big Waaagh! (AE)
-Little Waaagh! (AE)
-Magic weapons
-Magic armour
-Talismans
-Arcane items
-Enchanted items
-Magic standards

LORDS
-Grimgor
-Skarsnik
-Grom
-Azhag
-Gorbad
-Orc Warbosses
-Orc Gt. Shaman
-Gobbo Warbosses
-Gobbo Gt. Shaman
-Wyvern

HEROES
-Orc BB
-Orc shaman
-Gobbo BB
-Gobbo shaman
-BSB

CORE
-Orcs
-Arrer boyz
-Savage orcs
-goblins
-wolf riders
-spider riders
-Night gobbos
-Snotties

SPECIAL
-Black orcs
-Boar boyz
-savage boar boyz
-squig herds
-hoppers
-chariots
-Spear chukkas ( http://www.librarium-online.com/foru...r-chukkas.html will use this thread)
-Rock lobba

RARE
-Giant
-pump wagon
-Trolls
-Doom diver

OTHER
-Bfsp *(stayscrunchyinmilk)

*other topics may include:
-living with animosity
-why go green?
-should I stop washing to make me seem more like an orc?

[DavidWC09]

We'll sticky it for now, but if the thread fails its animosity roll and stand still, then it'll be unpinned.

[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

Here's my first addition: the spell lists. First, the little Waaaagh!

1. Gaze of Gork: handy lil MM for whittling down those heavy cavalry units.

2. expensive to cast for the no.2 spell, best cast on 3 dice. Unfortunately (and this is the problem with this lore) that means trying to cast 2 spells/turn with a standard 2lv2 in a 2k pt list. level 1 shamans may as well just stay home- they're not gonna cast much- if anything- from this list.

However, 2d6 s4 hits is always a bit of fun. Has a half decent chance of getting rid of a rank or 2 and making life easier fer da choppy ladz

3. can be quite fun when cast on enemy wizards (what's that? irresistable force? Oh dear, pop goes your head)

Also give thought to the failed fear test. If your trolls/giant charge something that fails their FEAR test (i.e. when the giant is charging an enemy that is fear causing already) watch them try to hit you back. "Only hitting on 6s are you? Oooh, look, lots of them there, shame they all count as 1s, isn't it"

4. Foot of Gork: nasty. end of. Always useful for hitting elite units, though sometimes Brain bursta can be better. Though it does have the advantage of not being a MM.

5. Hand of Gork: Useful for delivering your combat troops quickly across the battlefield, though the high casting cost means its likely you'll only get one of this spell off a turn, if you're lucky enough to get it more than once! Remember the orcs and gobbos work best when hitting en masse: use it to help squabbling units catch up with your battleline a bit.

6. Possibly the most army specific spell in the book. If your enemy has war machines, great! Low I characters, great! Otherwise against Elves and the like it just doesn't earn its worth in my eyes. I'm sure others will disagree with me though, and it is quite easy to cast for a 6th spell.


The BIG Waaaaaagh!

1. A MM- not as useful as the lil waaagh one IMO, those no AS arre much more useful than just d6s4

2. Awesome character sniper. Guaranteed to eek out dice or a scroll, easy enough to cast on 2 and can be used to get rid of nasty high as characters, annoying wizards or just high cost knights! They're all viable targets. Also useful for causing that extra last casualty for reducing below 25%/wiping out us5 to cause panic tests. When used with the itty ring this combo is guaranteed do scare the pants off people.

3. Bash em ladz. A useful backup spell, once da boyz is in combat cast it on them to make them extra choppy. Extra rerolls can be very useful, and the ASF can be used to break that tricky combat against a high I unit. Plus its again easyish to cast on a 6+ and can be a good dice drawing spell later in the game (anytime from T2 onwards normally. You're meant to be in combat, you're playing orcs!)

4. Fists of gork isnt my personal favourite, but its useful. Vs. unit of 24 elves with 5+ armour: 12 hits, 8 wounds and at st 4, 2 wil be saved, leaving 6 to die, ie 25% of the unit, a panic check. So this exact scenario is unlikely, but you get the point. Combine this with a nice MM for that guaranteed panic check.

5. A gamebreaking spell. Can snipe lone characters, kill off cavalry, take out war machines, and if you're lucky, do all 3! Then there's the one time in your life when it just keeps going and he stomps on each and every enemy unit before wandering off... leaving them flattened beneath Gork's mighty feet before your opponent can do anything. Then its a psychological niggle too, like fanatics (remember what it did that last time... eh?) Be aware of the fact that if it "carries on" it can target units with MR, who are then helpless to stop it. A cheesy spell, but thats only cause the big G is unaware of personal hygeine. Cheesy feet is a blessing here not a curse.

6. And so we come to the gamebreaker. There's a reason this spell is cast on 12+. Its awesome! Who doesn't want laser guided fanatics, orcs that can get the charge on those careless cavalry that got too complacently cloe (8" charge, I should be fine here, its about 12" away)But my bolt throwers can fire, I hear you wail. Well, boo hoo. By now you're in combat, they can't SEE anything to shoot anyway. In fact, that 2d6" move has had some hilarious consequences in the past. I once had a unit of chaos knights get rear charged by a unit of byz. The knights fled from the static res of 8+ and ran into my dep. zone, past my bolt throwers. 2d6" charge later and they were hotfooting it 3d6" off the board! Rare I know, but just a little proof that its not all bad. It can also be useful for bringing all your bullies to bear on that flyer at once, who would otherwise just eat its way down the line.

[Moskov Humperdink]

Magic for the old Orcs and goblins is good and always a laugh. but i find it secondary to beating those squishy 'umies up with the good old moskov trademarked "BLACK ORC POWA (in a french accent {messy night at a french tourney])

Magic is important and ppl underrate it.

The issue i find is armour penetration and being "generic"

As for armour pen. Bosses and Black orcs work and generallt the better armoured troops can be outnumbered and beaten that way.

As for the genericness.

Combat = Decent but not the best (ie Chaos Knight steamroller armies have ripped me a new one since the players joined the local club
Shooting = They are half decent and ppl are suprised by it
Magic = Good and more reliable than it seems

tricksyness = We win. no one else not even stinking skaven are as tricksy
i mean who else has a wall off unpanicable 20pts a base missile shield snotlings that kick bottoms (record was 9 Sword Masters and a complaint for the neighbours for my laughing.

Main weaknesses = Armour Pen, Animosity, Pshycology

Armour Pen ive discussed and i try to beat it with characters or win using static combat resolution.

Animosity, i usually live with it but ill be using Black orc Big Boss as BSB so thats 1 less to worry about.

Leadership and LD tests

Im a fan of non panicing units on flanks and the core centre with General and BSB in the middle. The Horn of Urgok is handy (especially if ur gobbos) Also consider unit placement and unit strength, our troops are usually cheap so use it. Also consider panic and have panic "line breakers" to stop it ruining ur day (ive won a battle in turn 1 with a series of failed panic tests (Tomb Giant terror then the rest of his army ran off the board)

We also have some very good core choices that i term "special" namely spider riders, while they dont suit the theme i have ive used them in someone elses army and they are very tactically flexible.

I find ur troops themselves arnt as strong as some other races but the choices u have are much greater than most ppl.

As for tactics ive "self tested" vs Empire, Tombkings Chaos and im sure ive forgot one and i played alot prior to this edition so i can try to help as much as i can.

[Spikes]

My first general tip: don't be afraid to sacrifice! It's what greenies do best! Bring goblins into awkward positions, get some orcs engaged in combat so that you can slam reinforcements in the enemy's flank, and don't be afraid to fire catapult/doom diver shots on an unengaged enemy unit that's sitting right next to yours (unless it's expensive stuff).

Second tip: magic missiles may go through. If you don't have enough dispel dice to protect all of your troops from all of the enemy's magic, you may elect to let the magic missiles go through, especially if they roll high on 2-3 dice. Better keep the DD for the really scary stuff that's coming up!

Goblin wolf riders:

These guys are fast, cheap, and core. What more could you ask? Shortbows and fast cavalry, of course! Take 5 of 'em with a musician, shortbows and no shields, and walk around the treacherous terrain that your footsluggers can't afford to go through. Or take 6 with a musician and spears if you think they are patient enough to act as a "detachment"/redirection service.

Pepper the flanks of softy units with shortbow fire, taunt frenzied units into charging you then flee through a group of orcs (who won't panic), or simply march block by going inside a wood at least 2 inches from its edge (you'll be protected from missile fire by being out of sight).

For the taunt-and-flee, it's a good idea to angle yourself at 45º (or more) so that they have to wheel then bring maximum contact before failing the charge. This usually allows you to get a straight line-of-charge to their juicy flanks with your other troops! Now those blood knights won't seem so daunting when you can win them over by static CR and start crumblin' them!

Night goblin:
There is too much to say about them in a single post. Your first consideration will be if you want to use them as *cough* "solid" *cough* blocks of troops, or just easily-discarded chumps. For the former, you will want full command. The champion will be able to do some retaliatory strikes even if rank & file die in droves, and your banner will ensure an extra static CR point to win by. Also, your troop block will start at 25, and may go as high as 40 if you think you can handle the movement phase properly. For the latter, a banner is risky, you have to consider the pros and cons--do you want to give your enemy an easy 100 VP if they can charge+break? Or would you rather have them stay up and fight one more combat round to give enough time for your boys/cavalry to arrive and join da party?

Discardable goblins have lots of advantages. They act as fanatic launching platforms, so you may get in range without charging anyone (even fear causers) and simply let the 'tics rip! Armored knights, rank and file, lone characters, you name it. Other advantages include the fact that you can, again, bait & flee for a low cost. Even if they're caught up because of a miscalculated or badly rolled flee distance, you can generally turn a 60-125 points of cheapzies into a delicious tactical opportunity.

A good method of "advancing your battle lines" is to put the gobbos a few inches ahead (and to the side) of the orc boys so that they may easily flee through the orcs, putting the chargin unit's juicy flanks in charge range of the orcs.

Fanatic "deployment".
Always remember that you can launch fanatics from anywhere within your unit in any direction you choose. This means that you could send them and do area denial (by forcing the enemy's softies to steer clear of the madly spinning fanatics, or risk going through and suffering some hits). Or you could send them through your own sacrifical gobbo units, "teleporting" through them until they reach the enemy--no matter the gobbo losses if more expensive enemy troops die too! This is especially effective if your cheap gobbos are engaged against multiple enemy units (say, it got double flanked) and you send a fanatic through one of the sides.

Last but not least, remember that ANY type of terrain other than open ground kills a fanatic. Your fanatic launching goblins must make sure they don't get sent by scouting enemy troops or move through a forest only to get triggered uselessly. Therefore it is wise to plan as early as in the deployment phase in order to place your chess pieces where they are most needed.

[DavidWC09]

This is a great start. If it's completed, we'll move it to the official tactica section.

Do remember, please, that if you want this to be a serious, featured item on the site (we can talk about the frontpage if it's done and done well) then it will need to be written to a higher standard than your average post.

If you're not a native English speaker or just not the best writer, I encourage word processing software to catch spelling mistakes and the like.

I'd love to see everyone follow through with this and then to feature it somewhere, but some of the posts will need to be cleaned up.

Thanks for taking this on. As a contributor to the Wood Elves tactica, I know what a big task it can be. Good luck and stick with it!

[Moskov Humperdink]

Orcs

I aim for 20+ 25 if i can. I like to varie the equips so u can try to match ur harder hitting ones vs squishy targets and ur better armoured vs there harder hitting units.

Gobbos

30+ as a rule unless i have archers as fanatic delivery system (im trying out 20 archers without a command group so if they die they are cheap and the enemy doesnt get a banner for "free" Vic Points.

Artillery

2x Spear chukkas per choice as a rule
Rock Lobbers i like but artillery dice dont like my orcs.

Characters

I tend to go

<2000
Combat general
BSB
Caster

2000 - 2999
Caster

3000+
Caster
Support Combat

You get the idea

Also im loath to mount a general on a wyvern or boar in less than 3k as the Ld bonus is required usually

Cavalry

Ive got mixed views on Boar Boys as they are good especially when upgraded but they are expensive.

Wolf riders - I tend to give em bows to harass then flank charge when the boyz hit.

Spider riders - Abuse there movement abilities and again give bows as they die fast in combat

MOnsters

Giants = I have 2 and ppl are paniced by them
Trolls = ive got some but they seem to be ineffective but if u can get them on a flank charge to a main unit they will start to kick some boot..hay (yeah ill get my coat now )
Wyverns = I dont like outside 3000+ battles. They are good for annoying gun lines with terror and each machines (especially empire)

Chariots.

Gobbo ones imo are too low toughness so take loads or non

Orc ones ive used to support boar boys to help punch through a flank and roll downn the line.

Snotling joy wagons.

if u can keep on near the general and on a flank they are solid contenders and ive used 2 b4 and wiped out units with teh impact hits alone (record is 21 deaths from 2 wagons)

Savage orcs

These bad boys are imba but expensive, ive used a "counts as" list before and was ok but they need some bosses with them as i bounced off armoured foes but vs normal geared ppl the sheer number of attacks can rip ppl to bits (i use them 6 wide frontage)

Black Orcs

These are class but the enemy knows it so shield them as best u can (snotlings love it they do)

Gobbos - As for equipping them i tend to try to make em cheap as they die in droves in combat so unless im a gobbo horde i wont upgrade much and i tend to go with nightgoblins as they look better feel sneakyier and have squigs.

Squigs - Immune to psychology = win 2x str 5 = Double win Big teeth and not likeing dwarves = Marrage proposal (ive got a thing for them)

If its gonna be moved to the "big time" ill use word then copy it over + my dads keyboard is useless and mine is broke (so even worse "just" )

[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

What I'll do is when we have a more or less agreed idea of what should be in the Tactica, I'll copy it all into a word processor and churn it through. This isn't likely to be before christmas though, so we've got about 10 weeks of tactic writing before I get to the nitty grittyness of writing the article.

[Spikes]

Squig hoppers:
The greenskin underground beast of burden ridden by a night goblin. These skirmishers are moved during the compulsory phase, which means that you can adapt to an enemy unit's charge reactions by pointing them in a different direction than you would have originally intended. For example, if some units held against your orc charge, you can flank them. An enemy who flees can be "caught up" by squigs who can decide where to go after the fact. Squig hoppers are best used as flank chargers, march blockers and artillery crew killers (except entrenched dwarf positions, unfortunately).

Their immunity to psychology can help a bit, depending on what you are facing.

A group of 7 is usually good since you can usually make base-to-base contact against rank and file, and manage to suffer a couple of shooting casualties before losing that much combat effectiveness. They hit hard but are terribly squishy, however a quick 105 points for a pocketful of them allows you to simply "have fun with them" (and lose them in the process if things don't go too well without losing that many points).

Make sure to maneuver them through forests and terrain that skirmishers can usually "ignore", this will help with the enemy's shooting--having at least soft cover, and up to no line of sight, helps a lot. Remember that squigs don't have armour and have low toughness!

On a personnal note, I have these guys in my list since O&G is more random/chaotic than Chaos armies themselves (go figure). Opposing commanders will find the squigs difficult to predict, therefore they might ignore them or focus too much on the (little but still significant) threat they pose.

[DavidWC09]

What I'll do is when we have a more or less agreed idea of what should be in the Tactica, I'll copy it all into a word processor and churn it through. This isn't likely to be before christmas though, so we've got about 10 weeks of tactic writing before I get to the nitty grittyness of writing the article.

That'll be good. Then you can give sections similar format. It's a lot of work, but it makes for a great document.