Speedo's Speed Freeks
With the release of Codex: Armageddon, my friend Pat has split his Orks into two smaller armies that can be used separately or together as detachments in a larger horde. One army is a "traditional" Ork force, led by Sho-T BigHed. The other is a Kult of Speed army (described below) led by Speedo the Big Mek. 

Pat, by the way, has been playing Orks since First Edition, back when Orks were definitely more humorous than they are now: hence the funny names.

This army is new, so it doesn't yet have the depth that Sho-T's army enjoys. Basically, the modus operandi is the same: zoom in and unload some severe hand-to-hand whoop-ass. The faster elements of this army crash into the enemy and hold them there (preventing them from retreating or firing heavy weapons) until the slower elements (usually more powerful in close combat) arrive to finish off the opposition. 

Speedo made his debut in Battle #12 (New Git on the Block) in the Blood Deserts of Auros IX Campaign. Pat's initial concept of him was as a Big Mek in mega-armor. For narrative reasons, Pat has since taken away Speedo's mega-armor and given it to Sho-T: can't very well have a Mek, even a Big Mek, being tougher than one's Warboss, right? 

Pat bought a new, mega-armored figure for Sho-T and now uses his old Sho-T figure (below) for Speedo. The Speedo figure is a conversion using Nork Deddog's body and the head from the Ork Warboss. Nork's ripper gun easily becomes a big shoota, and the close combat weapon becomes a formidable choppa.

Above: Speedo the Big Mek

Strengths
Speed and excellent hand-to-hand combat ability, as to be expected. Surprisingly, this army can also dish out a very impressive amount of firepower. The toughest, most effective units are the 'ard Boyz, the Burna Boyz (damn, I hate them!), and the Dethkoptas.

Weaknesses
Orks need numbers to overwhelm their enemies, and numbers are hard to come by in a Speed Freek army. Also, half of the army moves at 12" a turn (various vehicles upgrades can adjust this) while the other half moves at 24" a turn. So far, Pat has done a good job of not overextending Speedo's army during games, but it's something he has to be concerned about.

Best Moment vs. Fighting Tigers
Speedo's boyz inflicted an awful lot of damage and came within 40 victory points of winning a Strongpoint mission (Battle #12, New Git on the Block) during the Blood Deserts of Auros IX Campaign.

Worst Moment vs. Fighting Tigers
In the same campaign, the Speed Freeks ran right into more heavy weapons than they could handle and suffered serious casualties (Battle #14, The Need for Speed).

HQ
Ork Big Mek: Speedo

	Points	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Speedo	90	5	2	5	4	3	4	4	9	3+

'eavy armor, choppa, big shoota, banna wava, Waaaugh banner

Speedo usually hitches a ride with the 'ard Boyz in the battlewagon.
 

Elite
Stormboyz: 14 Boyz + Nob. Boyz have sluggas and choppas. Nob has 'eavy armor, slugga, power claw, and frag stikkbombz. Total: 270 points.

'ard Boyz: 14 Boyz + Nob. 11 Boyz have sluggas and choppas, 2 have burnas, 1 has a big shoota. Nob has a slugga, power claw, iron gob, and bosspole. Transport: battlewagon (see below). Total: 250 points.
 

Troops
Burna Boyz: 9 Boyz + Mekboy. 5 Boyz have sluggas and choppas, 4 Boyz have burnas. Mekboy has a burna, iron gob, and frag stikkbombz. Transport: trukk (no weapons). Total: 140 points.

Warbike Squadron: 5 Boyz. Total: 150 points.

Tank Bustas: 9 Boyz + Nob. 6 Boyz have sluggas and close combat weapons, 3 have rokkit launchas. All have frag and tankbusta bombz. Nob has 'eavy armor; rokkit launcha; iron gob; ammo runt; frag, krak, and tankbusta bombz. Transport: trukk (no weapons). Total: 115 points.

Wartrakk Squadron: 2 scorchas and 1 wartrak with kustom mega-blasta. All with red paint jobs and turbo boostas. Total: 150 points.

Warbuggy Squadron: 3 with twin-linked rokkit launchas. All with red paint jobs. Total: 129 points.

Warbuggy Squadron: 3 with twin-linked big shootas. Total: 138 points.
 

Fast Attack
Dethkopta Squadrons: 2 squadrons, each with 3 Dethkoptas. Total: 105 points each squadron. 
 

Heavy Support
Guntrukk Squadron: 3 with zzap guns. Total: 210 points.

Looted Basilisk ("Big Booma"): With searchlight and indirect fire capability. Total: 126 points. 

Battlewagon: With twin-linked big shoota, zzap gun, skorcha, force field, grot riggers. Total: 135 points.
 

Related Pages
Blood Deserts of Auros IX: Speedo enters the war
Sho-T BigHed's Blood Axe Army
Pat's Space Wolf Army
 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore April 2001
 

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