8th Edition Orc & Goblin Armybook Tactics

[Dorack]

On the opposite end of the Squig Horde, what would be the minimum functional size of a squig herd?

[Chiungalla]

Minimum number of goblins and 1 squigg. The squigg in the back, and used as a bomb against everything without shooting.

[Da GoBBo]

On the opposite end of the Squig Horde, what would be the minimum functional size of a squig herd?

3 squigs and 7 goblins for a squig bomb. I'd take mor'n one squig as to not loose im due to shooting (with just one volley) and thus not get the bomb off.

[amysrevenge]

Recently I almost managed to buy 40 unpainted "gnoblers" for 99p, until the guy realised his mistake and put a "buy it now" on there (by the time I noticed it was there, they were gone!), and I recently bought a "skeleton chariot" (literally, that was what it was listed as) for less than £5 including p&p saving me tons on the retail price (1 point for guessing what a "skeleton chariot" is, and 1 point for guessing what it's going to be used for).

Anyway, I'm deviating horribly off topic.

I can't resist.

Try searching eBay for "warhamer" some time. I got 30 metal Hammerers for $30 once that were listed like this. In my neighbourhood they run $30 for 5 models new...

[Welfstar]

As far as equipping shamans (both Orc and Goblin), what Main Rules common magical items are you guys partial to?

The only thing I've ever taken is a Dispel Scroll, on either my LV4 or LV2 back-up.

Are any other items worthwhile?

I'm under the impression that the Skull Wand's a bit of a waste. Yeah?

[Dorack]

Healing potion for a NG shaman would be nice in case the mushrooms start killing him early.

[Malorian]

I'm under the impression that the Skull Wand's a bit of a waste. Yeah?

If you can catch monsters on the flank it can be ok... but in general thanks to bsb rerolls it isn't going to help that much and the points could be better spent somewhere else.

[Welfstar]

Oh yeah, never thought of that. Good call, Dorack.

Heal up mushroom and miscast damage... I like.

[Welfstar]

If you can catch monsters on the flank it can be ok... but in general thanks to bsb rerolls it isn't going to help that much and the points could be better spent somewhere else.

Yeah, that's pretty well my thinking too.

What about common items, Mal? Other than Dispel Scrolls, what do you consider viable?

[Malorian]

Well I could see a powerscroll being useful. I think a lot of the big waaagh spells can be classed as game winning so making sure you get it off could... win you the game

Thanks to our sniping spells the feedback scroll is even worth it (so you can finish them off).

[Avian]

I take the Ward save talismans and occasionally a Power stone in case I get a low roll for magic dice in a critical turn. The generic weapons are okay, but generally I just go with a great weapon and save the points.

[Da GoBBo]

Back onto tactics, I'm still not at all convinced by the squig horde plan. At toughness 3 and no armour, they are going to be suffering casualties faster than you can say "look at my big scary squig horde".

Ah, another unit to think twice about. How many units do we have now that have to beware of shooting? Solo characters (wyvern/chariot/spider/squig), wicked stuff (fanatics/mangler squig), fast cav (spider/wolf), (savage/common)boar boyz, (wolf/boar/snotling)chariots, squigs (herd/hopper) and Monsters (Spidey/giant) ... did i miss something?. That's 7 types and about 13 unit entries (excluding characters) that aren't too fond of shooting. Take enough of them and some will fly under the radar. Some people here can't understand others saying that 'they don't mind if the giant gets shot as that means others arn't getting shot'. Given the fact that about half our units don't take kindly to missilefire, I wholehartedly agree with this. Take enough of these units and some will survive. At standard games (2500pt), I will probably have 2-3 chariots, a squigherd, Spidey, 2 mangler squigs and a Giant and work from there. Ye can't shoot them all

strength 5+ shooting/magic targets the giant/arachnarok/boar chariots
Strength 4 shooting/magic targets the pump wagons/manglers/wolf chariots/boar boys/fast cav/trolls (and orc infantry of all kinds if there are none of the above available to target)
Strength 3 shooting/magic targets the squig herds/fast cav

Good point, I like it and hadn't thought of it like this before. How many armies can effectively employ all those types of shooting though? I don't think it should be a main concern for allcommer lists.

[drear]

ive been running my lvl 4 with the 4+ ward and lvl 2 with a powerstone.
however the 4+ ward is neeed once a battle..and the powerstone is always forgotten as its not very useful on a lvl 2 with the signiture and itchy nuisance ):

im gonna start running naked lvl 2's and avod a lvl 4 for abit just to see if 2 lvl 2's work better.

[sssk]

Good point, I like it and hadn't thought of it like this before. How many armies can effectively employ all those types of shooting though? I don't think it should be a main concern for allcommer lists.

My point wasn't that you'll face all of those types of shooting at once (except against empire/dwarfs where cannon + hand gun + mortar/stone thrower is fairly common place).

My point was that against armies which often employ plenty of strength 3 shooting* (elves of all kinds, orcs and gobbos, tomb kings, empire, lizardmen**), there will often be little else worth them shooting at, as they won't wound very often, so your squigs will find themselves on the end of the boot. I'm not saying the squigs are a bad plan, but if you get a few archer units or stone thrower/mortar shots attacking them, there will be a lot of points vanishing very quickly. Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways, and like my expensive*** (points) models to be survivable.

On the other hand of course, if your squigs are up against armies with lots of strength 4 shooting, or no shooting, they're likely to get across the board fairly well in tact, assuming (as Da gobbo pointed out) there're plenty of manglers, chariots and giants to keep missile units busy.



*obviously depends on the individual build of the army, for instance high elves often don't bother with archers
**lizardmen strength 3 shooting is mostly poisoned so targets the giant etc, but I tend to find unarmoured units get attacked just as frequently (eg glade guard getting shot when there's still a treeman on the loose)
***the cost of a squig is expensive from my point of view

[drear]

so is it worth taking sevral 'choice' targets for shooting when feilding a squigly horde so the poison shots/cannons are spread out ?

[Malorian]

so is it worth taking sevral 'choice' targets for shooting when feilding a squigly horde so the poison shots/cannons are spread out ?

Target saturation is always a good idea no matter what the issue.

[Harwammer]

so is it worth taking sevral 'choice' targets for shooting when feilding a squigly horde so the poison shots/cannons are spread out ?

Pretty much. You need to think what kind of shooting will be effective against the target then present alternative targets to the enemy which this type of shooting will also be effective against whilst trying to keep your squigs appearing unthreatening.

[AMWOOD co]

so is it worth taking sevral 'choice' targets for shooting when feilding a squigly horde so the poison shots/cannons are spread out ?

The only time it can come back to bite you is when facing an army that has a massive points/model ratio. These armies usually have nothing but elite troops, usually high armour (High Elves a notable exception), and will all be deployed in a very tight formation. Their goal is to kill more of your army in the section of the field of their choosing, and armies with lots of troops are the opponent of choice as the entire force cannot be brought to bear on them at once.

Fortunately, we have sniping spells and artillery. Bolt Throwers and doom divers can deal with cavalry, rock lobbas and shamans for infantry and sniping spells for characters. If you only have a few pieces in your force, just pick your shots, focusing on whatever looks like it can kill your forces the easiest.

[Avian]

Some people here can't understand others saying that 'they don't mind if the giant gets shot as that means others arn't getting shot'.

You called?

There is very little else in the army I'd rather get shot than my Giant because 33 pts per unarmoured T5 Wound is about as expensive as it gets for something that can't easily hide in or behind other troops.

[GIKvack]

I was a little shocked with the price hike on all of the special characters! The only one that went down was Grimgor who lost 2 attacks...

I don't take them for there power in the first place, I tooke them for fluffy fun! Granted it still won't stop me from taking Skarsnik (sorry about spelling since I don't have my book near by). But even his magic weapon got worse in my opinion. I'm just a little saddened by this fact.

But anyways what do people like using the special characters for? Seen any new ideas/combos/abilities with the new ones?