Ork tactics (Part 1 of 6): Special HQ

Hello, everybody, and welcome to my first post in about 2 weeks. This is the first part of a series on Orks, which I will write over the following weeks. Orks have always been a competitive army, and extremely fun, to play. Here I will focus on their Special Character core.



Ghazghkull Thraka:

Ghazghkull is arguably one of the best HQ in the game. On the charge, he is nearly unstoppable, with 7 Strength 10 attacks. My brother regularly takes him, and he has never failed to impress. On the outside, he looks good, right?

Well, he has one special rule that makes him invaluable for Ork armies: Ghazghkull's Waaagh! This is a version of the normal Waaagh!, declared in the shooting phase, etc. What is different about it is that, instead of rolling for your fleet of foot, every unit with the Waaagh! special rule moves 6" automatically. As if that weren't enough already, Gazghkull's 2+ armor save becomes Invulnerable while on a Waaagh! making him truly unkillable. Add this to eternal warrior, furious charge, and a Big Shoota, and a points cost of only 225, he is truly a force to be reckoned with!

Using him on the table top: It has been found that the most effective way of deploying him is in a Battlewagon, to make up for his Slow and Purposeful, with a unit of Meganobz. Use this unit to utterly tear apart that pesky 500 point Deathstar unit, with your own, better Deathstar unit.

Mad Dok Grotsnik:

At first glance, the Mad Dok is a little hard to justify, being, basically, a painboy with an extra wound, an extra pip of toughness, another attack, WS 5, and a price tag of 160 points. He comes with the usual, slugga, 'urty srynge, dok's tools, and the rest, but when you look at his special rules, he is revealed.

He has a modified version of Rage, except for the fact that you can't control it by having him out of line of sight of the enemy. However, he can be joined to any unit, and for 5 points per model, he can give them Cybork bodies, which I would not recommend, as it is way too expensive.

Using him in a game: If I were to ever take Grotsnik, it would be with a 19 strong mob of Ork Boyz in a Battlewagon. Seeing as he is a little bit of a loose cannon, I would simply let him and his unit loose in the middle of the enemy's battle line, and watch as he runs over everyone, for 19 Ork Boyz with Feel No Pain is not to be scoffed at! However, with this in mind, I would probably not choose to take him, simply because there are better options out there.


Wazdakka Gutsmek:

Wazdakka Gutsmek, The Biker of the Aporkalypse, or in other words, complete awesome. Without doubt one of the best characters in the Ork army list, he is able to turbo-boost, and still fire 4 Strength 8 shots making him a rather amazing tank killer. Add this to the fact that he has toughness 6, is on a bike, and has a Powerklaw, he is amazing for only 180 points.

His main power, however, is to make all Warbiker Mobz troops. This means that you could potentially have an army of super fast troops, supported by a couple of looted wagons, some boyz in trukks, and warbuggies. This sort of an army would hit really, really hard, and be super mobile, just how Orks like it!

On the Tabletop: In a battle, though he has 4 attacks, and a Powerklaw, I would highly advise against throwing him in combat, simply because he is better just simply shooting things! Putting him with a small unit of 5 or so warbikers ensures that he will not be sniped by a railgun or some such thing.


Old Zogwort:

Probably one of the most hilarious units in the Ork codex, Old Zogwort is a Psyker, rolling on the Ork Psychic powers chart, and he is a Warphead, meaning he can re-roll the result. He is also better in combat, getting an additional D6 attacks at Initiative 4, and all attacks are poisoned that wound on 2+.

You still might think, "Wait a moment now, this isn't good enough for 145 points! You're almost as stupid as your name, Verderer!", and you would be excused for saying that. What makes Zogwort all that is that the can turn enemy characters in to squigs, sort of like a weak version of Gift of Chaos. This may not be the best power ever, but is certainly good for a few laughs.

On the Tabletop: Despite all I have said about Zogwort, he is not the best option in the Ork codex, at a few too many points for what he does. If you were to use him, I would probably put him in a Battlewagon with 19 Shoota Boyz. As with all Ork psykers, he is way to unpredictable, and I like my troops to be very dependable, aka entire army fearless.