As many of you may have seen, I am in the process in building and complying a Chaos Dwarf army but am a little worried about what I can run if I am not allowed to run chaos dwarf army and what i can run instead.
I�?Tm not looking to proxy models for what they are not but rather plan on using to models that i already have along with some more to make a legal army. The two choices i looked at were dwarfs and O+G. The problem with dwarfs is that is too much diversity with the models and can’t have models like ironbreakers, hammers and miners and that like as the main dwarfs i have are just equipped with great weapons of the axe variety
So i though i would run an Orcs and Goblin army as i have many Hobgoblins that could be used as night goblins and other orc auxiliary units, but am wondering what i need to run a decent list that is also competive. Currently i have
[] 35 Hobgoblins with hand weapons
[] 10 hobgoblins with bows
[] 14 or 15 Wolf riders
[] 1 night goblin boss
[] 15 Black Orcs
[] 4 Spear Chuckas
[] 30 Orcs with choppas
[] 1 giant
[] 10 Armoured Rugluds Orcs - could be used as arrer boyz
Get yourself 2 units of 18 black orcs some big uns and enough nightgoblins to field 2 hordes of 50 with spears and 1 fanetic. 5 spiderriders and a doomdiver and you have the perfect bases for an unstoppable horde of greenskins (:
(or at least thats what I’m painting/building at the moment)
a friend of mine who always plays the nastiest lists possible brought 3 units of squigs, one of them about 40. and then deploys units of night gobs behind them with 3 fanatics each. I havent seen it in action but Ive heard about it. he waaaghs and charges with the hordes of squigs and brings the NG in and releases the fanatics straight through the squig lines, into the enemies.
In my experience what you need is the ability to paint lots and lots of green, a good sense of humour and the Orc mindset that you’re just there to enjoy a good scrap and winning is just a lucky bonus!
I do agree with the sense of humor. If you can bring that, and enjoy them for the insanity they are it will be a fun game and more fun for your opponent. So designing an army to be fun/cool/themed and still competitive is the best Green army IMHO as it will maximize enjoyment.
I do think Fanatics are quite useful, even if you only take 1-2 in the units… it will make your opponent more cautious and will give you some opportunity to manipulate them.
I know several people who swear by Goblins (either type) over Orcs: due to numbers and cost. I personally prefer Night Goblins over regular Gobbos due to Nets and the better iniative. While their leadership is a bit poor, if you have a Black Orc warboss nearby and/or a BSB it can help make up for it.
Personally I really love greenskin magic, so I do recommend some investment in that. At least one lvl4 (Night Gobbo and Gobbo lvl 4s are fairly cheap).
Mixed Orcs and Gobbos can work nicely too. As then you get the Orc characters to bolster leadership over the Gobbos, plus some more deadly units. Black Orcs with the Razor Standard could potentially be brutal (two choppas… 2S5 attacks in the first round of combat that are armor piercing will cut through nearly anything… meanwhile 2S4 attacks normally will still punch through armor).
I recommend a doom diver. It’s fun, it’s hillarious (you’re flinging Goblins at the enemy!), and it is useful. A rock lobba or two can be nice with the big infantry units these days (especially vs high elves, dark elves, and skaven who are low T and lightly armored)
Totally agree with swiss about fanatics: they are a must but mainly to bring under pressure your opponent (a couple for unit are good, becuase they are expensive)… and I saw the combo squig/fanatics: it really rocks.
BO’s are nasty and bigunz too: both units in for me.
the rest of points in fast cavalry/chariot with characters and the dish is served!!
Being that i play Orks, i assume that the army’s are somewhat the same. I’d go for a hoard of orcs, with a safe amount of arrer boyz or goblin archers. Dont spend to many points on lords and hero’s, either- Green skins are expendable.
Trolls are very useful support units; hard hitting and very resiliant. If you keep them in the general’s sphere of influence (or buy a cheap hero, easy with the new rules, to lead them) then they can break elite units when used in combination with goblin hordes. Orcs and Goblins are about unit combinations, rather than just picking certain hard units…so always try to think what your units can do for one another. Large units of orcs can be very effective, if they have a warboss of bigboss with them, and will hold their own in fights against all but the best troops.
You have a giant, which is great, but don’t leave him unsupported. Now that all troops can fight in at least two rankes, and with your giant having no save, he’ll end up very dead very quickly. But used in combination with another unit a giant can roll up an entire flank. Before I came to the US I fought with O&Gs against Chaos Warriors and a giant-boarboy flanking force took out one unit of chaos knights, a chariot and two units of warriors over the course of 5 turns (I ended up with 1 boarboy left and the last unit of warriors broke because of the ranks from some night goblins).
Fanatics can be great if you don’t want to use the middle of the map, but just want to scare your enemy into avoiding charging in his elite troops. If you’re going to take a lot of Black Orcs through the middle then use fanatics on either flank in archer units to stop your army being flanked (Black Orcs are expensive and will limit your options on the wings). 20 Night Goblins with short bows can fire past fanatics and are now twice as effective due to firing in two ranks. Remember that NGs are better at range than in close combat, so shooting the enemy is a massive bonus for them. Plus if your enemy decides to charge you he’ll take fanatic hits and “stand and shoot” casualties, so he might even flee before he gets into combat. It’s always amusing to watch Empire knights flee from a few goblins with bent twigs.
So in sum. Look at what you have and then think, “what can I combine with what I have to make this more effective?”. There are loads of combinations for O&G armies, so just have fun with it.
One army that worked well against me was an elite ork army. A couple of bolt throwers, savage orc big 'uns, regular ork big 'uns, Black orks. Black ork characters in ork units to quell animosity (enables you to leave your sense of humour at home), a unit of boar boys who might have been big 'uns, trolls.
Other players have done well with goblins, other than the fanatic/squig/war machine/magic combo, you need to have a very good sense of humour and better generalship than me!
Well, Ben Johnson’s GT army was something like (from memory):
Lv4 Orc, Lv2 Orc, Lv2 Night Goblin, Orc BSB (possibly Blorc), 7 Squig Hoppers, 20-odd Black Orcs, 25 Night Goblins with a Fanatic or two, 5 Spider Riders, 2 x 5 Wolf Riders, an absolutely gigantic unit of Orcs (like 40), 2 Wolf Chariots, Doom Diver, 2 Bolt Throwers and a Rock Lobber. At 2k. It was massive. He is a very good player, his list might give you some ideas.
Definitely the fanatics and add some spider riders. You put 5 NG units out there, then he’s worried about 15 Fanatics. Just don’t tell him that you couldn’t afford that many. Spiders have done me proud lately, (tend to forget the disasters).
