I've now had the opportunity to get a fair few games in with the new Ork book, and I thought it was time to talk a bit more about it. Straight away, the biggest point with this new Codex is that it tries quite hard to push Orks off in a new direction- whilst the traditional Green Tide is still viable, Kult of Speed and shooting lists are heavily pushed.
For a Fistful of Teef
One of the more interesting things I've found is that despite most of my models being painted and decorated as Bad Moons, I'm increasingly finding that I'm playing them as Freebooterz. Fortunately a lot of Freebooterz tend to be ex Bad-Moons anyway due to a shared love of teef and flash, so it doesn't hurt my fluff-bunny feels as much as it might. As an aside, since my models are also painted Evil Sunz style in places (after absorbing a friend's warband years ago) I don't mix Klan Kultures in my armies. I don't like doing it at any time, and that goes double when some of my Bikers look like Evil Sunz and some look like Bad Moons.
What's particularly interesting about Freebooterz is that despite having the worst special Klan Strategy by a country mile (Kill Kroozer Broadside is just dire, I'm sorry) their Trait supports both shooting and assault armies, and arguably does it better than those of other Klans that might be considered to specialise in one or the other. Competitive Streak is one of those abilities that when explained, makes people look at you like you've grown an extra head.
 |
| Typical reaction to learning the radius of the Competitive Streak effect |
The Key Players (Or, hold my Grot and Watch Dis!)
 |
| This guy. This guy right here. |
There are several models that I've found are extremely useful for Freebooterz and really help to push them into the realm of exceptionally dangerous. One of the first is the Dakkajet. Already, even before the new Codex, the Dakkajet was one of the more reliable performers in the Ork army, since if it targets the same unit with all its guns (which will be six Supa Shootas unless you've cheaped out like some sort of grot) it gets +1 to hit, meaning it's usually hitting on an unprecedented-for-Orks 4+. A Freebooter Dakkajet, however, is even more exciting. If it's benefiting from Competitive Streak it's hitting on 3+, which can even get to a flat-out-bonkers 2+ against a unit with Fly through the use of the Long, Uncontrolled Bursts Stratagem. More usefully, however, it's an excellent MSU hunter. If an opponent has taken several small units of squashy infantry (eg, three squads of ten Guardsmen, to pick a.. random example) the Dakkajet is excellently equipped to hunt them down and is quite capable of wiping them out in a single salvo. Usually, other than conceding First Blood, people aren't too bothered when an inconsequential unit like this gets annihilated, but when that kill suddenly means that all the other Ork shooting is hitting on 4+ they tend to sit up and take notice.
 |
| Traktor Kannons are for grots. So's this, but it's better. |
My next choice might be a bit surprising, but it's the Mek Gun, more specifically the Kustom Mega Kannon variant. As a grot-crewed weapon, the Mek Guns receive no bonus from Competitive Streak, but they do trigger it if they manage to kill a unit, because no self-respecting Ork wants to be outdone by a Grot. A well-sited battery of KMC Mek Gunz gives any Ork army a very respectable anti-armour punch and is also useful for winkling heavy infantry out of cover, especially the first floor of GW Ruins where they might have made themselves immune to Assault. Since you're not going to get the benefit of Competitive Streak, it usually means you can fire the KMCs first in a shooting phase and see if you can wipe a unit to trigger it for everyone else. As I'll talk about later, your order of attacks is very important with Freebooterz, so this is quite liberating.
The next Freebooter All-Star is more of an Ork All-Star if we're honest, and it's the humble Grot. They may not really be able to kill anything on their own, they may fight like sick in a paper bag and they may flee if a nearby Squig breaks wind*, but they give Orks their own version of the 'Loyal 32' and those extra Command Points can be crucial. I also personally like the idea that the Grots are providing logistical support to the Orks who simply can't be bothered with it. They can serve useful duty as objective holders (so long as no threat is allowed anywhere near them) anti-deep-strike bubble-wrap, and of course as Grot Shields.
The Loyal 32 does raise the tricky question of who else to bring to fill the two HQ slots of the Battalion. Whilst Orks do have plenty of useful HQs, most of them are rather more expensive than the Guard officers who traditionally fill out the Imperial version. Weirdboyz are a solid choice, providing useful abilities (and of course the Battalion provides the CP to make them into Warpheadz if required). It's annoying in this case that other very handy utility characters like Painboyz, Runtherds and the Waaagh Bannner are Elites since they would otherwise be an ideal way to fill out the Detachment. For Freebooterz, however, there's another option that meshes well with what we have already:
 |
| Must.. Orkbliterate! |
We're going a long way back in my own personal collection here, but these three charmers are known as Da Obliteratorks**, and were originally built as Chaos Ork Obliterators back when allies were a big thing. These days, however, I use them as Shokk Attack Gun Meks, and the weapon's very random shooting profile meshes well with their look. There are a couple of reasons why these guys fit very well into a Freebooter list. Firstly, if interspersed among the Mek Gunz they can fix them, dealing with the inevitable overheat damage and forcing opponents to work that little bit harder to get rid of the things. Secondly, that +1 to hit can easily turn the SAG from 'entertainingly erratic' to 'downright terrifying'. Their AP of -5 means even the very best armoured foes have little chance to save, even in cover, and their potential to inflict Mortal Wounds allows them to even threaten things like Knights and Custodes. In the extreme case- and this is the never-going-to-happen case but it's fun to tease opponents with, a single SAG can inflict 36 Wounds plus 18 Mortal Wounds with one shot.***
Da Uvver Stuff
Of course the nice thing with Freebooterz is that anything shooty or fighty works with them just fine. (Sorry Killa Kans). The Morkanaut is handy for the big KFF bubble and if it gets the +1 to hit can be a very dangerous shooting unit, but a CP should always, always be saved to prevent its 9" radius explosion when it gets focused down, which it will. Lootas get a lot of benefit from the bonus as well, though they can't double-tap like they could if they were Bad Moons. A sore point is Flash Gitz- whilst their firepower is amazing, especially if supported by Badrukk, their expense, shortish range and relative fragility make them tricky to use, even with Freebooterz. On the rare occasion that you get them to shoot with both the benefit of being stationary and with Competitive Streak up, they hit on 3+ (2+ for the Kaptin with his Gitfinda Squig) and do tend to delete things. Meganobz love being Freebooterz so long as someone else krumps something first to get them good and riled up, since it cancels out the deeply irritating -1 to hit on their Klaws without the need for a Waaagh Banner, though to be honest the Banner is so useful I try to always take one anyway. Potentially Meganobz under both effects and led by a Freebooter Warlord with Killer Reputation can be hitting on 2+ and re-rolling 1s, which tends to get their victim's attention.****
Fiddly bitz, gubbinz and know-wotz
There are a few considerations, and at least one irksome rules issue, when playing Freebooterz. First and foremost, the most killy models tend to be those which will benefit most from Competitive Streak, but are at the same time those most likely to trigger it, making deciding what to attack first with sometimes quite tricky, which is one of the big benefits of Mek Gunz. This is even more important in the Assault phase, where you have to balance the need to mitigate the inevitable Counter Attack stratagem against the desire to get a quick kill to trigger Competitive Streak. The rules issue comes with Open-Topped Transports. We know from the FAQ that to no-one's great surprise, models shooting out of Battlewagons etc can't have Stratagems played on them, which makes Lootas firing out of them distinctly less appealing, for example. What isn't all that clear is how Competitive Streak works with them. Personally, I play it that a unit killed by models shooting (or even fighting, with Boarding Action) out of a vehicle counts as having been destroyed by the vehicle itself for the purposes of triggering Competitive Streak, whilst the models inside it never benefit from the +1 To Hit bonus since they aren't on the table. This is of course logically ridiculous, but does seem broadly consistent with how GW treats embarked models.
Final Thoughts
So, this turned into a Freebooterz post! It wasn't exactly meant to be, but the Ork book is so chewy and has so many different options that there's a hell of a lot to talk about with it. Speaking of chewy, I've found it's a good idea to mark a Freebooter unit that gets a kill with a token, and I usually use some sort of individually-wrapped (ideally green) sweet. This means that you get to give your ladz a sweetie when they excel, and at the end of the phase the sweets can be shared out amongst players, with first refusal going to the player whose unit got wiped out to earn said sweetie in the first place. Just be sure to bring as many sweets as the opposing army has units, to avoid disappointment..
* in the Grots' defence, depending on the type of Squig this may actually be lethally dangerous.
** Annihilatork, Devastatork and Eradicatork.
*** This requires you to roll at least 15 sixes. Of course if the hits are also 6s, you could do more hits so the theoretical ceiling is in fact 72 wounds plus 36 Mortal!
**** Briefly.
No comments:
Post a Comment