Armies in 5th: Orks Part 2: Anti-armor

So back to the Orks in 5th edition. We've covered their general fail in meching up (BWs can be done but we'll cover that later) so let's look more closely at their ability to counter mech.

On the whole Orks don't like Mech. They have good weight of fire to counter their crrappy BS and medium strength weapons but the higher the strength the less shots they get (i.e. from a 3 shot S5 big shoota to a 1 shot S8 rokkit). So to maximise Orky chances of landing hits we either needs lots of medium strength shots or twin-linking the higher strength shots as much as possible (whilst having as many of them as possible, too).

Now where can we get these kind of guns? Lootas is the first and obvious choice (it's like I was leading up to this right?). 1-3 autocannon shots per turn per Loota for a measly 15 pts? Done! They are BS2? Still done! Here's how many hits on average you're going to get with 1/2/3 shots. 5/10/15. That's pretty damn good and you have a huge standard deviation range in your favor against those pesky AV10-11 units which the Lootas should be focusing on. This high rate of fire can also be very effective as anti-infantry/MC once the light mech has fallen. What Lootas don't like? Lots of targets overwhelms even 3 units of Lootas. Unable to split their fire makes Lootas unhappy but you get what you are given. And anything hitting the AV12 range, AV13 and 14? forget it. At least with AV12 Lootas have enough shots to hopefully get a pen and have it not covered but again standard deviations are the Ork's friend. Notice how we've already used the word hopefully?

So we've already filled 3 elite slots to take out light armor and they do a credible job of it. Cover obviously reduces their effectiveness and they need enough shots to get through cover to reliably take down tanks due to no AP1 and we mentioned Lootas don't like the higher AVs. So onto TL-Rokkits. Where can we get these moderately happy S8 weapons and twin-link them? Your fast attack. Buggies and Deffkoptas. Now what's super important about these? They are the only fast unit which can bring high strength weaponry reliably. What's this mean? Side armor shots. Like the Piranha in the Tau army the Buggies and Deffkoptas add a different dimension to the Ork codex and allow them more tactical options when taken. Whilst their points seem a bit inflated the flexibility they add to an Ork army is almost essential. The problem? Like Vypers, Buggies are very, very weak. Open-topped and in squadrons is not good which is why taking a squadron or two (or three) of Deffkoptas is a good choice. Problem again is they are more expensive and vulnerable to instant death but they make up for it with the lovely Scout move they have. So this adds a bit of mobile firepower to the Ork army with a mildly higher strength than Lootas but still has trouble with AV13/14. Fast Attack therefore becomes a trade-off between Koptas and Buggies which means to reliably threaten AV10-12 we've already locked up 6 FoC slots and the 3 Fast Attack choices aren't too stellar at anti-infantry.

So how can we reliably crack AV13/14? It seems we must delve into close combat where Orks are "great." This means power klaws which Ork players think are their saviour. Nope. They allow units with them to threaten tanks, not reliably hurt them. With the new rules for vehicles in close combat moving and the damage charts are their biggest defenses, not armor value (most tanks are AV10 in the rear). This means weight of attacks is very important. PKs generally swing at a max of 4 attacks which means a minimal Odds Ratio to actually land a hit. However, outside of Zzzap guns, this is the only way Orks can threaten all around AV14 or even make heavy front and side armor tanks like Russes afraid.

So the Orks initial and most reliably anti-tank comes from Lootas (spam S7 shots) and TL-rokkits (field as many as you can and go for side armor with a ~55% hit rate). PKs are a nice little addition but because the initial Ork anti-tank isn't stellar Ork players will often find themselves hoping their PKs do something against armor. Hoping is never a good strategy. This is one of the inherent weaknesses of the Ork codex, they really have to do out of their way to deal with Mech.

Next up I'll look at the Ork core in what should be taken as their "hitting" power in Troops. Remember to have some decent and reliable anti-tank we've already used all Elite and Fast Attack choices.