Black Orc Mob
Rejoice, we finally have Black Orcs back in our roster - and they’re core troops even! You can have up to one (1) unit, but thanks to the Da Boyz USR, you also need a Black Orc Boss - and vice versa!
Black Orcs have the same basic statline as your Infernal Guard but with +1 Movement, +1 initiative, -1 Leadership and Full Plate Armour for +1pts. That’s a very good deal! Black Orcs are natural shock troops and truly excel when they get their charge off, thanks to Furious Charge and Choppas USR. Suddenly you’re looking at two attacks, re-rolls of to-wound rolls of 1 and AP-1 in a turn when they charged. Add to that the Black Orc Boss’ Waaagh USR and re-roll of any to-hit roll of 1 and +1 CR you get a truly fearsome first round of combat. Black Orcs are also immune to panic from friendly units being destroyed or fleeing through them and they would also quell any impetuosity in 6" if we had any units suffering from it.
Black Orcs can get Shields for a very beefy anvil unit, but that’s usually not why you get Black Orcs (see the part about them being shock troops again). But it’s of course also good against shooting, so why not, if you have the points. For their main weapons you can chose between two options - and you can even mix & match, thanks to Motley Crew! Also remember that all non-magical weapons benefit from Choppas, not just single hand weapons!
- Like Dwarfs, Great Weapons are a great choice for Black Orcs, even if their drop from I3 to I1 is a little steeper than for Dwarfs. Still, a great choice.
- With Additional Hand Weapons you truly go all-in on their damage output potential. With Furious Charge you’re looking at 3 attacks per model at I6 S4 AP-1. Stuff is going to die.
There are many ways to successfully use Black Orcs. Thanks to Motley Crew, you could have Great Weapons on the far corners of the unit for a few S6 supporting attacks (remember that models without base contact can only make one attack each, so you’d lose the benefits of Furious Charge and Additional Hand Weapons anyway!) while the center either has Additional Hand Weapons for maximum damage output or Shields for that nice 3+ Armour Save! You might also only want to take 5 models as a tax to have a Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern, that’s fine too.
Be aware that a Black Orc Mob cannot have any magic items from the Chaos Dwarf Grand Army list but instead uses the ones from the Orc & Goblin Tribes. While this blocks some interesting builds for the Black Orc Bosses, for the Black Orc Mob it actually unlocks some fantastic banners. Worth taking a closer look at
- The Big Red Raggedy Flag
- Waaagh! Banner
- Da Banner of Butchery
- Da Spider Banner
- Da Banner of Da Nomads