Well my last article was intended to spark debate, and it
certainly achieved its objective! Below is a revision of
certain sections of my article, but first I want to have
short rant, about some of the criticism made of the article.
[Rant mode on]
1) The articles are my own personal opinion and should be
taken as such.
2) I am human and make mistakes, as is the case with
battlefortresses (and my spelling!). Part of the
reason I post these articles to the list is so
that I can correct these mistakes. Thereby, hopefully,
avoid making them in a battle!
3) It was never the intention of these articles that the
statistics be viewed in isolation. They were intended to
aid the making of comparsion between different types.
Also it was not my intention that the statistics be used
in isolation from the role that a unit is suppost to perform.
My intention was for it to be the other way round. I asked
my self 'what role is this unit suppost to perform', then
used the statistics as one measure to aid me in assessing
how I well believed unit could perform X function.
Has as been rightly pointed out, I hadn't realised all of
the roles that certain units could perform.
4) As for predisposing players to use or not use certain units
I make no apologies, that was exactley my intention.
However I also assumed that the members of this list (as
I think the responses to my Ork Article prove) would look
critically at my comments and not accept my words at face
value. As for new players, I hope the debate about
my article will inspire them to consider aspects of the
performance of units, that they wouldn't have consider
before.
[rant mode off]
NOTE: I have cut and pasted some comments of duckrvr_at_...,
John Richards and Alan Brain into this revised article,
and therefore wish to acknowledge their contribution.
Below is my opinions on Ork units and tactics.
Unit - Shooty Boyz
- Assault value point for point is 29% of marines
- Firepower value point for point is 118% of
marine Devastators and 88% of normal marines
on overwatch.
- Movement is the same as marines
- Armour is 4+ vs marines 5+
Advice - They are an ok unit, if you need the firepower.
They can be used in a fast offensive by loading
them on to battle wagons, hitting midboard in turn
one and then they will be in range to place lots of
BMs on enemy units your Nobz are going to close combat
in the second turn. They are even better used in a
defensive battle, were hopefully, you won't need to
pay for transport.
Unit - BoarBoyz
- Assault value point for point is 115% of a
marine unit, 115% of a marine bike unit
and 115% of Rough Riders.
- Firepower value point for point is 118% of
marines 58% of marines on overwatch and
100% of marine bikes and Rough Riders
- Movement is 20cm, 30cm charging
- Armour is 5+ vs marine bike units and
Rough Riders 4
Advice - I would never take any, I would use stormboyz
instead. But a counter argument is that they
have better armour and a commander can be
upgraded to boarz.
Unit - Battlewagons
- Assault value point for point is 2 vs Rhinos 0
- Firepower value point for point is 1 vs Rhinos 0
Firepower value point for point is 54% of marines
on overwatch, 96% of Predator tanks and 76% of Leman
Russ.
- Movement is 25cm vs Rhinos and Predators 30cm
- Armour is 5+ vs Rhinos 5+
- They cost 14pts vs Rhinos 7pts
- They transport the 1 unit vs 2 units transported
by Rhinos.
Advice - basically you are paying 28 points to transport
two units vs 7 points for marines to transport
two units. The advantage of battlewagons is; first,
that you don't lose the 5cm each time a unit embarks
or disembarks; second, units being transported are
never killed if the transport is destroyed (expect
in the case of snapfire); and third, battlewagons
have an assault and fire power value, while the
Rhino doesn't any. Each battlewagon is equal to
having 1 additional Ork boy (expect battle wagons
can't enter buildings). I would take as many
battlewagons as are required to transport all the
Nobz in my army.
Unit - Buggies
- Assault value point for point is 91% of a marine
attack bike units and 46% of marine bike units
- Firepower value point for point is 91% of a
marine bike units and 46% of marine attack
bikes
- Movement is 35cm vs 30cm for a marine bike
unit
- Armour is 4+ vs 4+
- Range is 30cm vs marine attack bikes 30cm
Advice - if you take buggies and bikes to counter enemy
fast attack forces in my opinion you are on
hiding to nothing. However there are a couple of
the roles that they can play instead. First, they
can act as screen for, like gretchin, for
battlewagons. Second, use them as a backup for the
main force of Battlewagons. After getting 2 BWs into
contact with each of the enemy, use Buggies to provide
that extra +1 AF for supports. With the option to charge
an additional 10cm into the enemy lines, thereby engaging
the enemy supports such as Demolishers and Hellhounds.
However do note that battlewagons can to a large degree,
in my opinion, fill their roles. Battle wagons are only
5cm slower than marine bikes, but far superior in terms
of assault, armour and range than Buggies.
Unit - Bikeboyz
- Assault value point for point is 77% of a marine
attack bike units and 39% of marine bike units
- Firepower value point for point is 39% of a
marine attack bike units and 77% of marine
bike units
- Movement is 35cm vs 30cm for a marine bike
unit
- Armour is 4+ vs 4+
- Range 45cm vs for marine attack bikes 30cm and
15cm for marine bike units
Advice - The advice I gave about buggies is the same for
bikes.
Unit - Fighter-Bommer
- They are equal in air combat to thunderbolts
- Their ground attack is barrage vs a thunderbolts
2 firepower
Advice - When the Oaks take the offensive they will have to
take the role of Orks artillery support, as Ork
own artillery doesn't have the range or the speed
to get in range of enemy units, in time to support
the fast offensives of Orks. My advice is that you
should plan to take 50% to 100% more than whatever
your opposition is going take in the way of air
support.
Unit - Big Gunz & Pulsa Rockets
Advice - Both have to shorter range and are to slow.
Only usefully if you are on the defensive or
when conducting a slow rumbling attack (which
is exactley the type of attack Orks want to avoid
conducting).
Unit - battlefortress
- Assault value is point for point 47%
of marines and 301% of Leman Russ
- Firepower value point for point is 100%
of Leman Russ and 94% of marine devastators
- Movement is 15cm
- Armour is 5+
- Can transport 5 troops. Rhinos can transport
5 troops for 21 points and Chimeras can
transport 5 troops for 42 points
Advice - battlewagons can transport 4 units at cost
of 48 points, compared to 85 points for a
battlefortresses. However the benefit the
of battlefortresses is a durability. For
example when a battle wagon takes a hit it is
destroyed, however a battlefortress can take
upto 7 hits and still not be destroyed.
The main disadvantage of battlefortresses is
the their speed (15cm), which means they can't
act as an assualt troop transport for fast
offensives. However one possible use for them
in fast offensives is to transport shooty boyz.
Because battlefortresses can move for free in
the assault phase, this means by the second turn
the shooty boyz and battlefortresses should be within
within 20cm of enemy lines (assuming that the
opposing forces started 80cm apart), which will allow
both to use their full firepower in support
of the assault troops. Then in the third turn the
battlefortresses can assault enemy troops.�Of course
the enemy is unlikely to stay on his baseline for the
whole game, therefore battle fortresses may well be
able to get into close combat with enemy forces in
the second turn.
Armies Overall strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths - Nobz assault and survivability (far better than
marines)
- Orks ability to hitch a lift
- Battle wagons speed and assault value
- Flak wagons
- Reasonable air cover provided by Fighter-Bommers
- Mekboy speedsta's, they have a cheap but
effective war engine killing ability
- Stormbyz jet pack movement, and their assault
value
Weaknesses - Lack of long range barrage weapons
- Lack of anti-tank weapons
- lack of close support weapons
Tactical Advice
Defence -
You don't have the infantry firepower and anti tank weapons to
engage in firefights. Try and slow down part of your oppositions
army, while you use the mobility of your battlewagons to allow
you to get superior numbers assaulting the rest of his army.
If a gap opens up in his lines, send your high speed units to
take out his artillery and long range direct fire units, if he
has any. The worst position to be in for Orks, is being pounded
for several turns by long range artillery and anti tank weapons,
before the enemy makes his assault. Orks want to get into close
combat as soon as possible, in most situations.
Attack -
Mount all your you Nobz on battle wagons and head towards the enemy
at assault speed. Use terrain to block the enemy line of sight while
advancing, try and get all of your infantry units into close combat
by turn two. Use stormboyz to leap over enemy detachments, that
are already engaged by the Nobz, and attack them from the rear,
so the enemy detachment can't retreat if defeated.
Another alternative is move at march speed, especially worth
considering against massed Landraiders. The extra FP is negligible,
while AT weapons get no benefits from firing at marchers. An attack
with marching battle wagons, with an effective range of 95cm, (3x25cm
+ 20cm in the assault) can often take an opponent off-guard, usually on
normal or better still Assault orders. And if he's pinned on Overwatch
95 cm away from your troops, ignore them and hit somewhere else!
Terrain -
For Orks the more terrain the better. You only want enough open
space so the battle wagons aren't to close together.
Main Threats
- Long Range Artillery. Which do Preparatory bombardments,
thereby inflicting blast markers, which mean you have to
make leadship tests to move. Use Fight-Bommer to attack
the artillery, if hasn't given them enough flak
protection or air cover.
- Close support weapons (e.g hellhounds). Use stormboyz
to take these out.
- Anti tank weapons (e.g landraiders). Massed anti-tank weapons
are the Orks worst nightmare. Use empty battle wagons
to assault them, is one solution I can think of. Also
Nobz on battlewagons, because their of survivability, if
they are within 35cm of the anti-tank weapons should be able
to take them out (25cm battle wagon move in the movement phase,
Nobz move 10cm in the assault phase). If the enemy protects his
anti tank weapons by putting infantry in front of them, the Nobz
assault the infantry and the Stormboyz attack the anti-tank
weapons. The only worry is if the enemy uses his anti-tank
weapons to shoot exclusively at the Stormboyz. But at least if
he does that, more of your Nobz and battlewagons survive to get
into close combat. Waaaaaaaaargh ORKS!!!!!
--
Sean Smith
Home - Seans_at_...
--
Received on Tue Jun 24 1997 - 22:25:58 UTC