Veteran Beastmen Player Joining The Greenskins!, Looking for advice.

Hello everyone.

I've been playing Warhammer Fantasy since 2003. Started with Chaos Mortals and turned towards Beasts of Chaos in 2004. I've been playing them ever since and have actually managed to win 4 tournaments with them.

However, I think it's time for a change of scenery. I've always loved orcs. When I played Mageknight years ago I always themed my army around orcs...

Anyway, I'm looking for some advice. I currently own the following models since I hit up a bulk sale at one of our local stores going out of business. So, there's no time like the present to jump in and start building an army.

Characters:
Multiple shaman models from savage orcs to goblins. No way I'll ever use all of them.
1 Black Orc Boss with shield
Skull Pass heroes

Core:
73 Orc Boyz
16 Arrer Boyz
40 Night Goblins with spears (skull pass)
20 Night Goblins with bows (skull pass)
10 Forest Goblin Spider Riders (skull pass)

Special:
50 Black Orcs
6 Spear Chukkas
8 Orc Boar Boyz
10 Savage Orc Boar Boyz
5 Orc Boar Chariots
Lots of Trolls

Rare:
2 Arachnarok Spiders
3 Goblin Rock Lobbers
2 Doom Diver Catapults
3 Giants

Ok, so that's quite a list and a LOT to put together.

Just looking for some advice on how to make a competitive list out of this. If I have to buy a box or two more of models to round things out, I'm ok with that.

I'm looking to create a 2,400 point list that would be relatively tournament competitive.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

This post has been edited by kris_kapsner on May 31 2012, 08:06 PM

Welcome to Da Warpath! That looks like a great and varied army. O&G play much like Beastmen, except we rely more on supportunits and variety and less on magic. (Though we can certainly pull off magic-heavy, and I really like Waaagh!-magic.)

I'd split the orc boyz in one unit of 40 and one of 30. All 40 Spear nightgobbos in one unit and the little one for support. With the blackorcs you can do a lot of things! Do you have two commandgroups for them? Then you can do all kinds of things with them. Looks like you have plenty of hammers and supportunits and a good selection of Warmachines, too. Post a rough draft of a list you'd wanna use in the armylist section and I and many others will be happy to help you.

I hope your stay here will be long and happy.

Theo

First of all welcome to da warpath!!

youve got a great strat there. i would almost say your good with what youve got, but since you mentioned tournies. your going ot need savage boys on foot.

it seems the staple is to have a large block (30 - 40) or savage orc big uns nd then the rest you can be pretty inventive with.
but trolls are a strong choice
then ofc your nights gobbos and orc boyz.

cant go wrong with doom divers and rock lobbers i wont say more.
but really the rest will be down to your play style.

like theo said post a rough list of what sort of army your planning on fielding and then there will be planty of advice to fine tune it.

id consider converting some of those orc chariots into goblin ones if all that stuff is still boxed.


but in all honesty - i doubt youll keep the same list for long - theres always more to try out.

and finaly if you were to get more and i know they are expensive so maybe fin a way to get them cheap - but large units of squig herds can be devistating - but some people arnt a fan so maybe proxy some to see if you like them.

It doesn't look like there is any reason why you need to buy any more models if you're a casual or moderately competitive player. However, if you're a very competitive player, units that seem to be very popular that you are currently missing and may want to consider include:

Wolf riders generally preferred over spider riders for higher movement and AS
Squig herds
The constantly referenced SO big'uns w/ shrunken head shaman

A lot of people seem to like NG anvils in units of 40-60 models, so I could see wanting to pick up another 20 spear NGs at some point.

Again, I don't think you "need" any other units/models but some of the most popular units you don't currently have. Either way, awesome score on a crazy amount of models.

Prepare to be overwhelmed by the awesome variety of O&G.

Welcome to da warpath Laddie.

You have i giant selection og O&G already. Only thing you might need are some mangler squigs, but they are still not essential.

I don't agree that you necessarily need Savage orcs to be competible. I could easily see this army doing very well by going heavy on warmachines, wolf riders and trolls.

Cheers!

Variety is the spice of O&Gs - just keep on trying new units out when you can, but the army you have is very complete. The only trouble you'd have with it being so mixed is a themed fluff.

Hello Kris,

On behalf of the moderator team, let me give you an official Da Warpath Welcome!
We try not to be too much like the other "One specific race" forums and keep an open mind to different possibilities. We usually get a different mindset for players with Orcs and Goblins. Having an army that was one of the worst in 7th can force you to look at things differently and understand that sometimes your army will force you to lose. We tend to be a bit laid back.

With that said, I will say that there are a lot of different ways to make things work with OnG. We have one of the most versatile lists (if not THE most) and there are a lot of toys to play with. So, even if you get things one way, it's quite easy to use the same army and shake things up significantly. There are a lot of different builds that people have had success with. While there are the internet favorites, lots of people win decent sized events without such units. There is someone here who uses only Orcs and Boar Chariots and does quite well. Someone won a GT in the UK with an Orc Wyvern Lord list in the past year. So, understand that while some people say that a certain thing is great, it doesn't mean that you HAVE to go with it. I'm sure you get that, though, as you are an experienced player.

One thing people will tell you is that a big unit of Savage Orc Big 'Uns with 2 choppas and a lvl 4 with Lucky Shrunken Head is the best unit we have. Well, it is pretty nasty, but you don't HAVE to have it. Just know if you want to try to make something work, go with it. I used Arrer Boyz for a long time, just to TRY to make them work somewhere. I think just trying it out yourself is important.

Some helpful advice about Goblin Blocks is to add in some cheap heroes with GW. Most people don't bother attacking them and they really add some punch to the unit. They are S6 with the Great Weapons and get 3 attacks each. It adds CR vs. other ranked units, but also can actually wound those high AS guys, too.

Don't do more than 2 fanatics. It's just too crazy and will backfire on y ou.

I've had problems with regular Orcs (not big 'uns). After the choppa bonus, they are just not strong enough to do much and don't have the armor to last. We don't have any stat buffing spells at all and really suffer in the grind. The same thing applies to these guys. Put in a cheap hero or two. I use an Orc hero with Glittering Scales and GW and he actually does quite a bit of damage for me. I put the General here with the Crown of Command and they actually stick around. People expect Orcs to be quite tough, but they really aren't. So, people gun for them. You need the Stubborn Crown to keep them there.

Most will tell you that Boar Boyz don't have a place. I'll admit that having I2 sucks for cavalry. They don't have high armor, either. So, they tend to get shot or just die in hand to hand. That doesn't mean they aren't worth anything. I would use them as a reserve force to hit someone in the flank. Once a unit gets stuck in, they can really slam home and make a difference. Going with 2 choppas is great vs. light infantry, but not good against anyone else. Making them Big Uns is do-able, but then you aren't able to make your main unit so. Most go with spears and shields for the Savages.

Black Orcs can be taken a few ways. Big Blocks are alright, but you will probably find that they die just as easily as regular Orcs....for a lot more points. Several medium units or a big and one small also work. The magic banner is great for these guys. Most go with Flame banner for the regenerators.

Spider Riders have benefits that Wolves don't and while more people on here say Wolves are better, it doesn't mean Spiders are bad. Play with what you have!

Well, hope that's enough to get you started!

WHAT?? I just bought an auction with 24 fanatics! Take full fanatics all the time I say!!

There's nothing like seeing 20 fanatics fling out at once, the half get shot and the other half barrel back into your units. At least it lets your units move without drawing too much fire! ;D

I've been testing my 2k list, and found that 3 fanatics in one unit is probably one too many. One always tend to do more harm than good.

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and the advice...especially to those who took the time to write a lengthy reply. I appreciate it.

I'm working on a list or two right now and I'll post them soon in the army list section. I look forward to any more advice you may have.