The Tiger Roars

Sortin’ Out da Mess (March 2008)by Patrick Eibel
I have had an Ork army, off and on, for about the last twenty years.  Like most players, I would add new figures as they were released and alter my army list as the rules changed.  With the release of the new Codex: Orks, it is time once again for an overhaul of how my Orks are configured.  For you other Ork players with a bunch of figures you’re not sure how you’ll use, here is how I sorted out my mess.

To start, I set all of the figures I had out on my gaming table.  To give you an idea of what I’m starting with, here is the list from the "All the Marbles" game near the end of the Auros IX campaign:

Sho T's Blood Axes

• Warboss Sho T BigHed in mega armor 
• Bodyguard: 8 Nobz in mega armor 
• Sprokkits: Mek 
• Kustom Wartrukk: VDR creation 
• Mad Doc Kev-Orkyun + 2 grot orderlies 
• 2 units each w/ 10 Kommandos 
• Flash Gitz: 10 + Nob 
• Slugga Boyz: 24 + Nob 
• Slugga Boyz: 16 + Nob (w/ Painboss in Wagon) 
• Shoota Boyz: 19 + Nob 
• Tankbustas: 9 + Nob 
• 2 units of Gretchin: Each w/ 20 + Slaver 
• Weirdboy: Dr. Huji-bob Jeep
• Warbuggy Squadron: 3 w/ rokkit launchas 
• Warbuggy Squadron: 3 w/ mega blastas 
• Wartrak Squadron: 2 skorcha, 1 big shoota 
• 10 Boar Boyz 
• R2 Ork 2 Dreadnought 
• 3 Killer Kans 
• Battlewagon (for Sluggas & Painboss)

• Big Mek Speedo
• Stormboyz: 14 + Nob 
• 'ard Boyz: 19 + Nob in wagon 
• Skarboyz: 17 + Nob (+ Big Mek) in wagon 
• Burna Boyz:  9 + Mek w/ trukk 
• Warbike Squadron: 5 bikes 
• Tankbustas: 9 + Nob w/ trukk 
• 3 units of Trukk Boyz: Each 9 + Nob w/ trukk 
• Outriders: 9 w/ slugga & ccw; 1 w/ big shoota 
• 2 units of 3 Dethkoptas each
• Looted Basilisk 
• 2 Guntrukks w/ Zzap guns 
• 2 Battlewagons (for squads above)

As detailed in the list above, the new army list will break down to roughly two detachments for Sho T. BigHed, the Warboss; and one detachment for Speedo, the Big Mek.  I approached sorting out the army using the Force Organization Chart as a framework and the idea that Speedo’s detachment should replicate a Kult of Speed as closely as possible.  I will use this framework to describe the changes I made to adhere to the new codex.

HQ 
The HQ choices in Sho T. BigHed’s detachment remain mostly the same.  Sho T. still will be a Warboss in mega-armor (with added cybork body), and Sprokkits, his loyal Big Mek, is also included.  Since the Sprokkits model is the old Mek with the Shokk Attack Gun, I had to decide if I wanted to use the new rules for the gun or keep on using it as a force field, as I had been.  Since the Big Mek is the only one who can get either wargear, I went with the Kustum Force Field because I think it will be much more useful on the battlefield. 

The new addition to the HQ units was the Weirdboy, and since I had one of the old models, it was time to dust him off and use him as a third HQ.  Depending on points, I could make him a Warphead, but I didn’t have to make that choice as part of this process.  Since I am doing two detachments, I could have another HQ, but I decided to bump my Mad Doc figure down to a regular Painboy and use him elsewhere.  I can always add a Mad Doc or another Big Mek if I need to later.

For Speedo’s Kult of Speed, the choices were much easier.  First off, there was Speedo himself, who will be a regular Big Mek.  The figure I am using is based on an old Imperial Ogryn model, so it does not have any Orky toys.  For now, he has a shoota/rokkit kombi-weapon (the Ogryn’s ripper gun) and a choppa. I will leave it at that, but I would like to add the Kustum Force Field backpack at some point to make him a little more useful, and I may even have to replace the figure I use. 

The other HQ choice for the Kult is also fairly easy.  Now that the character of Wadakka Gutsmek allows you to take Warbikers as Troops, he is just too tempting not to use.  Of course, I had to create my own character, so I took an old Mek figure I had that had lost a foot, fashioned a peg leg for him, and mounted him on a warbike.  I call my character Kikstand Magork (he uses the peg leg as a kickstand, get it?), and he will “count as” Wazdakka.

Elite
Now that Burnas, Lootas and Tankbustas are all Elites, and that burnas are no longer available in regular Boyz mobs, there would be some difficult choices here.  To start, I had two squads of Kommandos that I knew would be in Sho T’s list.  I took every figure I had that was equipped with a rokkit launcha and made a unit of Tankbustas.  Burna Boyz used to only have four burnas per unit, so I took all of the burnas from the Boyz squads and formed two units of ten (one unit would go to Speedo’s list.) 

To round out the Elite units, I took the four Orks with strange guns from the old Flash Gitz mob to form a Lootas mob.  I attached the Nob from the old “Shoota” boyz and two old Orks with heavy weapons (not the current line), so all I need is a box of the new Loota boyz to finish out the unit.  The Meganobz mob that accompanies Sho T. can be used as Elite, but I am putting them in the Troops section (as per the Warboss entry) so I can keep an open Elite slot.

The Kult of Speed gets the other Burna Boy mob (this unit is made up of older figures, for which I fashioned burnas out of flamers), a unit of Nobs on Warbikes (at only one detachment, I had to be careful when filling slots), and a unit of Nobz in a Trukk (who will accompany Speedo.)  A couple of weeks before the new codex was released, I went to my local gaming store and bought the remainder of their old Warbikes at 40% off, so I can build the Nobz on warbikes to have big choppas, which will give the entire unit Strength 6, Toughness 5, and a 4+ Invulnerable Save with the movement of a bike.  Sweet!

Troops
As with any army list, the Troop selections really form the backbone of the army.  From the outset, I knew that Sho T’s list would be predominantly footsloggers, as all of the fast units would be allocated to the Kult.  I already had two units of 30 Gretchin, so I picked up two more Runtherds from eBay and called them ready (I only had four, and with 30, you need three per unit.)  Kenton and I have been discussing whether Gretchin are all that useful as compared to Ork Boyz (we determined that they really weren’t), but I already have the models painted, so they will stay. 

The two old “Slugga” boy mobs and the “Shoota” boy mob listed above were all filled out to 25 figures and given two big shootas for each mob (I only had to buy two more big shootas, as I started with four.)  I have thought about getting another Boyz box to take each mob to 30, but with an army this large, storage is a real consideration and I don’t want to have to buy another case just yet.  The Meganobz (and their attached Battlewagon) will use up one Troop slot, as I mentioned before, and the Deff Dred ArtooOrktoo will use another (as per the Big Mek entry.)  This will help keep slots open in other areas, and with 12 Troop slots available with two detachments, I have slots to spare. 

Looking over my collection, I had a couple of units of oddball figures from other games, or that no longer had a purpose.  First, there were all the boyz with tankbusta bombs leftover from the Tankbusta units (remember, the rokkit boys all formed the new Tankbustas), as well as a bunch of Gorka Morka Orks that I gave stikkbombs.  I paired these figures with the old Nob of the one of the Tankbusta boyz and made a relatively big (18 boyz) squad in the vein of the old "Stikkbomma" unit. The other unit I had was made up of a bunch of Org figures made by Daemonforge.  While the figures look fine amidst the GW Orks, I was not sure what to make them.  I decided to go with function over form and use them as a unit of ‘Ard Boyz (the models do have prominent shoulder pads, at least.)

In the Kult of Speed, I have the unit of Warbikes and the three units of "Trukk Boyz", as listed above.  These units were fleshed out to 12 boyz each by redistributing some of the boys leftover from some of the old units that they no longer fit in (i.e. Burnas, Flash Gitz or Tankbustas.)  The big problem here was that I had two units of 20 Goff boyz that I had to find a use for without using too many Heavy Support slots for their vehicles.  I briefly considered making them Nobz, because Nobz come with a transport, but the limitation to only 10 in the unit was just too hard to swallow.  I decided to use 12 of the Goffs as a fourth "Trukk Boy" mob and use 20 as "Slugga Boyz" that will take a Battlewagon as a transport.  This would also give the Kult at least one big unit that could handle getting shot up a bit.

Fast Attack
The Fast Attack options were fairly straightforward to figure out.  I traded for five more Stormboyz, taking the unit to 20, so they would add some much needed mobility to Sho T’s list.  I also decided to use the 10 Boarboyz as Stormboyz because cavalry moves similar to jump troops and the Boarboyz have close combat weapons.  I will be on the lookout for ten more to bulk the squad up to 20 as well, but they will work at ten for now. 

The two squads of Deffkoptas clearly would go into the Kult of Speed, so that left the buggies to sort out.  I had two of the very old skorchas and three of the old metal buggies, as well as two plastic buggies I had converted with zzap guns.  I wanted to keep the old models together, so with only one fast slot left in the Kult, the plastic buggies would go there, with the zzap guns becoming rokkit launchas.  The other buggies would fill out Sho T’s Fast allotment with room to spare.

Heavy Support
At this point, the hard work was over.  Most of the Heavy Support slots would be used on vehicles, so it was just a matter of determining what went where.  Obviously, the Killer Kans stayed in Sho T’s list with the Deff Dred, and I kept the Basilisk (now a “Boom-wagon”) in the Kult.  The Burnas and Tankbustas in Sho T’s list would get the “looted Rhinos,” which would now be Looted Wagons with big shootas on top.  I had picked up a second Armorcast Battlewagon from my friend Brian “Big Dawg” Collett, which would get attached to the Stikkbommas.  I will have to get another one (or maybe a new one, if GW ever gets around to making it) for the ‘ard boyz.

In the Kult of Speed, the Looted Wagon would be represented by a Chimera I had converted to have a thudd gun (it was supposed to be a “Blood Axe Chimeraxe”), which would be assigned to the Burna Boyz.  The last slot would be used for a Battlewagon for the big Slugga Boyz mob, which for now will be represented by a truck I converted to be double wide and long.

Conclusion
I am pretty happy with the lists I created and am looking forward to seeing how they fare in battle.  I ended up with about ten figures I could not find a squad for, which, all things considered, is not too bad.  Now, I just need to get cracking on painting this lot before the start of the Return to Auros IX campaign later this year. Maybe we should just make the website black and white for awhile…
 

Year uv da Ork (main page)
 

Posted March 2008 
 

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