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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Codex Orks Review. Part 6b, Heavy Support: The Rabble

Somebodies little grot with a Big Gun.
It's nice to be appreciated for ones work. I still am not sure how to take this from a Chat-going-Potato-chip.

pringles978: if somebody buys an ork army after reading your articles fester, your going to hell...
It was followed by this, so here's hoping it was positive...
pringles978: articles are great, informative and just the right amount of humour
pringles978: kids: dont do orks. talk to a parent or your teacher if anyone offers you any green...
If I don't manage to finish the Orks Review, look for a shifty guy called pringles.

Anyway...
Heavy Support is big enough to warrant 3 different posts.
This one will focus on what I am calling The Rabble:
Flash Gitz, Big Guns, Looted Wagons

So why do I call these the Rabble? these are the forgotten and ignored choices, and it is easy to see why.
 


Finally got an AC/DC logo in!

Big Guns

Rating: B.S.3 shooting!
Fun Factor: Stand and shoot
Fail Factor: Artillery
So basically, we have a pile of grots standing behind some guns, trying to shoot them and not get their own snotty little faces ripped off in the process. Why is this important? Grots are BS3.
Yup, heavy fire hitting on a 4+!
There are 3 main types of Big Gun, each with its own entertaining hazards. P51
Kannon: S8 AP3 / S4 AP 5 blast, 36" Range.
Woe betide the grot who is called upon to retrieve a dud Kannon round, for the temptation to fire the fun whilst the unfortunate crewman still have his arm inside is all but irresistable to his mates.
Lobba: G48, Str 5 AP 5
Lobbas are a grot's favourite artillery piece because they don't need to expose themselves to the enemy (the Runtherd will usually find a way to expose himself but that's another story).
Zzap Gun: 36" S 2D6 AP2.
The Zzap gun's power is directly proportional to the nerve of the Grot operator, for the longer the Grot dares to hold down the electrocuting lever, the greater the power of the shot.
Anyway, these bad boys are 20pts base with a Kannon, and that's all you really want to take.
Stock up on Ammo Runts (max 3) as you get a re-roll for each runt, one use only.
Looted Wagon
Looted Wagons. A throwback to the 3rd Ed codex where all Ork players took a Leman Russ or Basilisk in their army. This entry was meant to cover the angst.So, what the biggest issue with FlashGitz?
Rating: Wanna-be Vindicator?
Fun Factor: Don't press dat!
Fail Factor: Seriously, Don't press dat!
Way to fail GW.
So, its a Rhino see. They bolted a Battlecannon to it see. They then tried to improve it, buggered up and halved its range. In the process, the roof fell off so its Open Topped, and the space they made by buggering the gun up means up to 12 boyz can ride inside.
So thats it.
Oh, and it has a special rule called "Don't press dat!" which makes you roll a D6 every turn, on a 1, the vehicle charges at full speed forward until it goes 12 inches, hits a friendly model or impassible terrain.
Sigh.
The Death Skulls whisper of a legendary Loota called 'Grabber' Gutzbag, who was so goo at this skill (Looting) that he could even loot an Imperial Titan and later unleash it on its former comrades. P54
Thats what this should be, a damned Looted Titan Entry!
Flash Gitz
 
Rating: Too damned expensive
Fun Factor: AP D6-1 is cool
Fail Factor: Even Orks can count to BS2.
So, these guys are another "ruined" entry from the 3rd Ed Codex. They used to be Devastators, for lack of a better simile. Up to 4 heavy weapons.
Now, they have a host of upgrades to a crappy gun, and BS2 to make up for it, and are damned expensive.
If there's one thing the Flash Gitz like more than strutting their stuff, it's using their kustom shootas to vapourise their enemies. P 56
First, Nob Profile, and nob price. 25 points base.
The gun is 24" S5 AP D6, Assault 1.
That's right, AP D6. For once having bad dice means things die, good.
These guys have a Painboy upgrade, which for once is actually optional. You lose one model's firepower for this, which makes it a tossup when you look at return on (considerable) investment.
They also come with a Gitfinda, which lets you pre-measure all the Flash Gitz shooting distances before choosing who to shoot at. While we are getting free gear, we have 4+ armour too!
For 5pts/model, you can add one or more of these.
More Dakka: Guns are Assualt 2
Shootier: Guns are S6
Blastas: Guns are AP D6-1, and get's hot.
So a kitted model is 40pts each. Ouch. The upside is that your shooty-unit is S4 T4 2W 3A, often with FNP and 5++.
Downside: no transport options, so we are slogging it, or taking a Wagon HS slot up. Thats makes 2 per squad.
Finally, they have a Special Character upgrade:
Kaptain Badrukk.
Pirate Orks! Yay!
No. Not yay. Badrukk has a better-than-nob profile (not by much +1 A, +1 WS, +2 Ld), 3+/5++  and a Super-Gun.
Its and assault 2 Plasmagun.
He also has a Bosspole, which is the only way Flashgitz can get one.
Too costly?
Not effective enough?
No Transport options?
Well, yes. All of the above.
The biggest for me is simple.
I love these guys and WISH I could use them and not blow 400+ points on the squad for about 4 MEQ kills per game.

Comments (9)

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Polymorphine's avatar

Polymorphine · 761 weeks ago

Yay, codex quotes!
2 replies · active 761 weeks ago
I thought I'd go overkill just for you :P
Polymorphine's avatar

Polymorphine · 761 weeks ago

awwww *manhugs*
Mean Green's avatar

Mean Green · 761 weeks ago

Just like not giving tankbusta's 'tankhunter', limiting a base-cost flashgit to 1 assault shot per model is stupid. With their horrid ballistic skill, gun str weaker than lootas and poor range, these guys should get d6 shots.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Should be S6, Assault 2, AP D6 for their points.
None of this upgradey madness to make them effective.

From there, you should get the 3 upgrades to make them just CRAZY.
+1 Str, +1 BS, +12" Range

That would make them feasible, and maybe a little broken. For that reason, I wouldn't give them a Transport option still.
I recently had this debate with a friend of mine who thinks the entry is somehow 'kinda underpowered, but not bad.'

I pointed out for 40 points a model, you could buy Las on Long Fangs, and have an actual range, S9 AP 2 BS4. And that therefore, for 40 points, Flash Gitz would probably be close to balanced at S9 AP2 BS2 Assault 2. At 45 points, that would be completely fair (it's not like they both don't die to missile launchers).

He responded that they could 'roll lucky and take out a termie squad so they shouldn't get that.'

I fucking hate people most days.
Big Guns are perhaps the most underestimated unit in the Ork codex. You can get BS3 S8 AP3 guns, which is HUGE. And multiple of them per slot. And with actual range and rerolls to hit. If that doesn't suit you, you can get some small blasts instead. They're vulnerable as heck, but also cheap. The only bad thing is that they fight for slots with other important choices (i.e. Battlewagons). But 3x Big Guns and 3x Lootas makes for an amusingly shooty Ork force.

The Looted Wagon is fucking terrible. Not only is its "battle cannon" worse (although still better than the Killkannon, with 12" of extra range and actual S8), but it often does exactly the thing you don't want it to do. Oh, and it's over 100pts for the basic chassis + gun- for an open-topped AV11 vehicle with relatively short range. Yeah, uh, this thing isn't even as good as a Vindicator. If you go first, you will get to shoot its trashy gun ONCE and otherwise never again.

Flash Gitz. are pretty mediocre, but they tend to get a bad rap. They aren't _terrible_, they just have no place in the book. They are generalists in a book that has no need for generalists. W2 and 4+ is decent (along with the FNP option) and their guns are actually quite good with the More Dakka upgrade- it's just that BS2 really kills it. Still, for the price there are far, far worse things out there- Orks just have a lot of better options to take instead.

Badrukk has the best model/fluff and worst rules.
Mean Green's avatar

Mean Green · 760 weeks ago

Agreed, Abuse. I've never NOT been impressed by their preformance. That's why I made a bunch from wood and procreate.
1 reply · active 760 weeks ago
The new commenting system lets you reply in-line (i.e. spaced in like this, as opposed to just underneath). It's totally the best thing about it, people, make sure to use it!

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