Oi! Listen up, you Gitz! Time for Da Mad Mek to give you a propa Ork list. Super killy. Lots of Dakka. Pay attention, Ladz, no muckin’ about! Get ready for WAAAGH! A guest article from Justin Del Valle.
Greetings, all! Justin “The Mad Mek” Del Valle here to go over my newest Ork list.
For those of you who don’t know me (which is probably a lot of you), I am a blogger and I open submissioned my way onto the Frontline Gaming site. So for installment number one I want to break open the new “Orkurion” from the updated WAAAGH! Ghazghkull supplement. I will give you fair warning, I am not a top tier tournament player. My goal for LVO last year was not to come in last (mission accomplished!) and I am still relatively new to 40k. I am like many of you, excited by the game, and I want to take my play to the next level. I watch the battle reports, read the strategy articles, and analyze tournament reports. I check out the latest “net-list” and try to figure out how to beat it. I have the desire to do better and learn all of the ins and outs of 40k. Join me on this journey!
The Ork book is largely considered by the 40k community to be a weak codex. Orks lack survivability, have low leadership, and Mob Rule can be a kick in the jumblies. These weaknesses tend to pigeon-hole “competitive” Ork lists to Big-Mek Stompa lists, lists that run Zhadsnark Da’Rippa, or combinations of the two. I ran Big-Mek Stompa Orks at LVO this year and had to play the mirror-match once. The reason these builds are popular is that the Big-Mek Stompa is very efficient for its points giving a much needed power to cost ratio that Orks lack in their regular book. Zhadsnark is popular for fueling the “Bike-Star,” allowing a large unit of bikes to end up with a 2+ cover save most of the time. Our mission is to find something new. Something that can attack the meta from a different angle. Enter WAAAGH! Ghazghkull.
A quick moment of silence for The Green Tide….
The new Ghazz book gives us the “Orkurion” detachment. This new detachment allows us to take multiple formations as one detachment. The requirements are one of two Core choices and one Auxiliary choice. From there we can add up to 9 more Auxiliary slots and/or a Command choice. The benefits of this detachment are being able to re-roll your Warlord Trait, all units of 10+ models get Hammer of Wrath on a successful charge, and the big benefit, being able to WAAAGH! Every turn including the FIRST! There is an obvious build here. The Council of WAAAGH! as your Command and the WAAAGH!-Band as your core. With Ghazghkull as your warlord when you WAAAGH! Your entire army becomes fearless and Ghazzy ends up with a 2++. The problem that I had with this list is how many points that need to be put into both the Core and the Council to make them functional. You have very little room to add units that help shore up weaknesses. Basically, the list writes itself based on points limits. Totally ignoring the problem of Mob Rule and low leadership is very attractive, but I feel like there is another build hiding in here. My idea is to totally abuse the amount of Auxiliary slots that are available to run the ultimate MSU list. Wont you come WAAAGH! With me?
Deffkopta – the Musical
GREAT WAAAGH!-BAND
Core: Waaagh!-Band
Mega-Boss with the Lucky Stikk
10x Gretchin w/Runtherd
Mek
3x Nobz – Warbikes, Big Choppas
9x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
10x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
11x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
11x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
11x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
11x Boyz + Nob w/Klaw – Trukk w/Ram, Rokkit
Auxiliary
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
2x Deffkoptas – Rokkit
3x Mek Gunz – 1 Traktor Kannon, 2 Kustom Mega-Kannon 2x Ammo Runt
3x Warbuggies – Rokkit
3x Warbuggies – Rokkit
3x Warbuggies – Rokkit
Why did I decide to go MSU? Other than my love of carrying super heavy transport cases, I feel like the ITC missions are really well suited for a bunch of small units with mobility. Obviously the kill point mission is very difficult with 25 kill points up for grabs, but all of the other missions are very winnable. Lets dig into some of the choices here.
The Lucky Mega-Boss is very hard to kill with a 2+/4+. This allows you to get serious threat range from the Trukk squads by calling the WAAAGH! Every turn. You can take his Warlord Trait from Codex: Orks and hope to roll a 1 with your re-roll. The Mega-Boss rides in the Trukk with 9 Boyz and the Nob since he is bulky and takes up two slots.
The Grots are a tax along with the Mek. The Grots will stay in the back camping an objective or will be held in reserve. The Mek rides in the Trukk that has 10 Boyz, basically just filling that slot. The rest of the Trukk squads are maxed with a Power Klaw Nob. The three man Nob squad all have Warbikes and Big Choppas. I see the Nobz protecting the backfield waiting to go for a counter charge, or rushing an objective late in the game. The Core has an immense threat range from calling the WAAAGH! 15”- 30” with being able to re-roll one of the charge dice from ‘Ere We Go.
For the Auxiliary I chose to spam Deffkoptas. I love twin-linked Rokkits! STR 8 AP 3 is one of my favorite things. Deffkoptas have a few other things going for them as well. They are jet-bikes so they can cross the board very quickly to grab objectives or move to the weak side of armored vehicles. Deffkoptas have Scout (Outflank). The deployment versatility is my favorite. I can hold them in reserve, use them to screen Trukks, or scout them up to grab the relic. They have armor and can jink. Saves of any kind are hard to come by in the Ork book so having a choice is nice. 5 Toughness and 2 wounds.
The Warbuggy Squadrons are a nice way to mix Armor and Toughness throughout the army. I feel like there should be a mix of the two so you have your bases covered against weapons that are good against one but not the other. Warbuggies have Scout (Outflank) and are fast which gives them a great threat range when coming in from reserves. Did I mention I love twin-linked Rokkits?
Finally the Mek Gunz add some support in the form of STR 8 AP 2 blasts. They have Gretchin crews so their BS is 3. The Traktor Kannon is a nod to Death from the Skies (which based on the new ITC poll is not as big a deal), but it could easily be replaced with another Kustom Mega-Kannon.
So why would you take this list over a more established one? Deployment versatility is huge. A wise player once told me that most games are won or lost during the Deployment Phase (it might have been a fortune cookie actually). This list allows you to deploy based on mission and opposing army (which you should be doing anyway). You have the option to hold most of your units in reserve or to scout them up. Options! The Warbuggies are in squadrons so you can abuse the 4” coherency rules and easily set up an armor screen for your Trukks by going Buggy, Trukk, Buggy, Trukk, Buggy. This list is also really mobile and can move to key points on the board quickly. All of the vehicles are Fast, Deffkoptas are jet-bikes, and even the Nobz are on Warbikes. In addition, AP 3 on most of your shooting is huge. It forces your opponent to feel like they’re the ones playing with Orks by not getting an armor save. STR 8 doubles out all but the hardiest of units, say buh-bye to those Flesh-hounds! Another important benefit of this list is target saturation. Redundancy is key for MSU strategies because it forces strong units to waste firepower on units that are worth minimal points. The only high priority target in the list is the Warboss.
There are some weaknesses. I have played two games with this list and I have noticed some things. Unless you get the Warlord Trait that grants Fearless, Mob Rule is still a big issue. Especially in the Ghazghkull supplement that gives +2 on the result of the Mob Rule roll thanks to Da Boss iz Watchin’ rule. I still think that is a typo of some sort, it should be -2! This rule is why we don’t run Bosspoles on the Nobz since the re-roll is pointless. Also, low leadership still hurts. I chose to put the Deffkoptas in units of two instead of three to help this problem by lessening the impact of a failed Ld roll. Did I mention that the kill-point mission is very hard impossible? This list also has a low volume of shots. Twin-linked helps deal with that, but the weight of dice thing that defines most Ork shooting is not present in this list.
The “Orkurion” definitely gives us plenty of new options for Orks. Deffkopta Spam might not be the flavor you like, but it is a new way of looking at things. Warbuggy Spam? Loota Spam? Kommando Spam? Mmmmm… Spam. Just like every Battlewagon is different, every Ork list does not need to be the same. I look forward to ideas on this list. This journey is all about evolving as a player and I am sure this list will evolve as well. Nothing is set in stone. Feel free to make suggestions, this journey is yours as well.
Thanks for checking it out and don’t forget to swing by my blog for some more Orky goodness.
I still find it odd that everyone wants it to be a -2 instead of +2. +2 guarantees that you succeed with a mob larger than 10. -2 makes sure you get a 1 half the time which means unless you are in combat you run which is awful. Also I know a lot of people think you can roll above a 6 on the chart which can’t happen because you are rolling on a chart with a cap of 6. Other than that it looks pretty good. I personally will stick with the council because its fun watching ghazzy hit stuff.
Fair point, but I always find that the issue is breaking in combat and being run down, a time when you are more likely to have less than 10 models due to lower initiative. Due to the increased threat range granted by the WAAAGH! you will be in combat quickly. A +2 on the chart seems contrary to the fluff as well, if the boss was watching it would seem the Boyz would be less likely to squabble. Mob Rule also hurts a bit more from the Ghazzy book because of the D3+3 hits that go against the unit on the higher result which seems weighted too heavily against the Ork player.
Punching stuff in the face with Ghazghkull is super fun, I agree. Keep WAAAGH!ing like you do. Thanks for reading.
I see your point now. Ya for smaller units a -2 would be good. I tend to footslog though so I normally have the boss and 10+ models so I like the never failing since I can roll ones like nobody else lol. Also I make more 6+ armor saves against the mob rule than anything else. It’s like they just lightly slap each other… On the fluff side I think with it being a Goff based book it makes more sense for it to be model count based. The goffs are the biggest and strongest and they will drown you in bodies. Since I run the large mobs the combat normally isn’t as big an issue as the walk up there with the shooting.
I guess that is why it is Mob rule, 12 guys is kind of more like a gathering than a Mob… 😉.
fear the ork community center gathering!
More like a Wreck center
Damn, that is way better
Orks and Wreck, the new Netflix series from Greg Daniels and Michael Schur 😀
Love the list idea.
I’ve been making lists that rely on the re-roll warlord trait. It’s just a shame it’s that or the council and this is a great example of how much you can fit into the “orkurion” without taking it.
My thoughts were to swap to 3-man Kopta squads but you mentioned that.
You could also throw the boss with the guns to give them better leadership and SnP, but not required just more flexibility.
Maybe to add more shots down field, swap one of the buggies to the big shootas. I love the rokkits but TL shootas can pump out decent wounds.
It’s a really good ork list. But it’ll be hard to fight no nonsense lists.
Thanks. It is still very early in it’s conception. I have had two games with it so far. One against the new sorcerer formation from the Black Legion book which was kill points, I obliterated the Secondary but was obliterated in turn on Primary. I lost on Tertiary because I couldn’t dislodge the sorcerer star from king of the hill. I also played against a nice DE/Eldar list that totally pantsed me, but no worse than playing against Eldar normally. The list is still very much WIP. Hopefully as a community we can c bthat is new, fun, and a bit competitive.
You mention the Warboss has a 2+/4+. Is that a 4+ invul..?
2+ armor save, with 4+ reroll
Why is the reroll a 4+? I thought lucky stikk gave you reroll at your actual save.
ITC FAQ makes all 2+ rerolls into 2+/4+
ITC rules modification. 2+ rerolables of any kind become 2+,4+
I am a top tier tournament player, and I can tell you that you aren’t so far off.
I’ve run an Orcurion with 9 Aux slots going to Warbuggies and Deffkoptas.
That being said, your list proposal could be better.
Here are a few tips for top tier Ork Lists:
1. Solo Deffkoptas: Mob Rule sucks for Deff Koptas. If you aren’t attaching a character you want to run solo deffkoptas.
2. Meks make trukks better: If you are running Trukk boyz you want to add a mek for your command choice. Each mek in your army means another squad of boyz where the Nob doesn’t get punched to death by a mildly decent character in a challenge.
3. Lobbas is Da best Mek Gun. You’ve got lots of high quality shooting. S8+. What you need is something to help against bigger units. They will obliterate Pink Horrors or Demonettes or Tac Marines coming out of a transport. So very good.
4. Manz in a Trukk > Nob Bikers.
Deffkoptas, Buggies, and Warbikes are anti-air. Twin Linking goes a long way. Koptas and Buggies are S8, so no need for Tractor Kannons. KMK’s have value because otherwise you don’t have much AP2, but they have Range / Line of sight problems.
Thanks for the feedback. You make some very valid points. Solo Deffkoptas are very good in a traditional CAD or other standard force org, but it doesn’t seem like it leverages the same way in the Orkurion, but it could be a way to slip in a 2nd detachment. The same is true for the Mek. Only one command slot is available so that would cap us at 2 total running a straight Orkurion, but again we might be able to add a second detachment. That is a way I hadn’t looked at it before. Manz are great, but points. I will look into it. I went towards the Traktor Kannons because they have a great potential to just wreck a flyer, but you make a great point about Rokkits doing the same thing. I will definitely take your feedback into account as the list evolves. Thanks again.
The 2 Mek Cap is one of the things holding the Orkurion back from usability. If Command were 0-6, you’d see me running it much more often in tourneys. The only way to get reliable bang for you buck out of a unit of trukk boyz is having a mek in there.
MANZ in a Trukk are exactly the same points as the Nob Bikers as you have them kitted out. 5 points more if you add a ram (You should).
I’m determined to eventually crack the Orkurion and use it to win a tourney some day. There are so many glaring problems with it that I just haven’t yet managed to overcome.
Sweet Christmas, how did I miss the points on the Manz? I read that and I was like “naw.”. Thanks for the input. Version 1.2 might be close.
Is 1.2 going to be Great Waaagh! Band + CAD?
It might. I’ll crunch some numbers and see where it goes.
Great article! I really enjoyed it. I’ve been playing exactly what you mentioned: bikes, big mek stompa, and Bully Boyz. They work great but it’s nice to see some variety.
Thanks, Reece. This is an exercise to see what else we can make aside from “standard” lists. Ork players have so few competitive options by the common way of thinking that I wanted to create a discussion about exploration. The Orkurion is pretty new and I feel like we can explore it more. I hope more people will chime in as this list begs to change into its optimal form. I will definitely be following this up. I am going to be taking a version of this to a local tournament in July.
That’s the Sex Panther way!!
60% of the time, we win all of the time!
Thanks for the write-up. I have been working on an Orkurion list for a while now. My latest version has single Deffkoptas, but I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.
I’m getting in a test game tonight. I already made a couple tweaks based on feedback so I will see how it performs against a dirty Necron list. I am prepping for a local tournament in July. Thanks for reading.