This article is copyright © Jason Job
Orcs and goblins are one of the more popular armies. They have a huge range of troops, and have some of the wierdest in the game. For this very reason, however, many people have trouble coming to grips with their army. How do you collect it? What should I get, and what can I ignore? The biggest problem I have faced is buying something simply because I like it - either the model or the concept of the troop type; I like squigs (no, really???), but they are very difficult to use properly unless you have heaps of them - and by heaps I mean starting from 10 teams or hoppers.
Rick Priestly's tactics section in the army book is good, but doesn't really tell a new general enough about what he actually needs to begin with, or where to go after that. I think I can do better (my, isn't he modest?). After several years of getting bits and pieces, I have finally worked out how to properly collect a greenskin army, and if I had to start again I am sure that this time I could quickly organise a decent usable force, rather than repeat my previous effort (until recently I would have been unlikely to be able to raise 1500 points if I were forced to play WYSIWYG). What I present here will be the "typical" army - it is designed as a general force, able to reasonably face most opponents who play fairly, with a good mix of troop types, but nothing thrown in to specialise in any way. As such, for many this army will be very predictable and even dull. It will, however, at least be a plan of what to get, and will be playable. Fielding your full allowance of war machines can be fun every now and then, but it's not good if you have to do it because they are a quarter of your collection. I will not tell you how to use your army - this isn't a tactics article, but a plan for building the army to start with. You must work out what to do with it for yourself.
To begin with, all armies require a core around which to build. For a greenskin army, this core ought to be Orcs. After much deliberation, I think that the 1000 point force given below ought to be a good enough start. The size of a unit includes the champion (so it's not 20 orcs AND a champion).
Warlord on foot. Light armour, shield, hand weapon. Put him in with the orcs. 113 points. I recommend the Gorfang Rotgut model.
Orc battle standard bearer. Light armour, shield, hand weapon. Put him with either the
orcs or big 'uns. 86 points. Convert your own - get a plastic orc, cut the sword off, glue
it onto the left hand, put the shield on his back, glue a plastic pole onto the
right hand, put on whatever large banner or chains trailing trophies you feel like having.
I used an undead lance, a zombie's head and leg, a Bretonnian knight's suitably mangled
head, a chaos warrior's helm, and a wood elf shield, battered and muddied. All
plastic and fairly easy to get (the zombie came from heroquest).
Orc shaman on foot. He should either hide in one of the two infantry units or shuffle about behind them. 57 points. Nazgob is excellent.
One unit of twenty orcs, equipped with light armour, shield, and hand weapon. Champion, standard bearer and musician. Deploy in a block of four ranks and five columns. 214.5 points. The current range of metals is terrible. The plastics are little better - they at least look bulky. I used the plastics, which look reasonably good when ranked up. The command figures are good though.
A unit of twelve or fifteen big 'uns. Light armour, shield, hand weapon. Champion, standard bearer, musician. Three ranks, four or five wide depending on how many you have. 159.5 points or 188 points. The new metal models are, like everything else Brian Nelson has done, excellent. I just happened to have a few plastic heroquest orcs lying around though...
A unit of ten boar boyz. Light armour, shield, spear, hand weapon. Champion, standard bearer, musician. Two ranks of five. 364 points. The new ones are perfect. Two boxes and the command blisters will do.
This gives you a decent core of 1022.5 points (or 994 if you skimped on the big 'uns),
with options for three magic standards so far should you want them. Two is probably
all you would get from the average tribe. Give one to the boyz unit, and the other would
probably go to the boar boyz. Of course, if you wanted to be absolutely true to character,
the big 'uns would grab
if from the weaker boyz. It's up to you - but just remember that 20 will outlive 15. 50
points maximum for both banners, but remember - don't plan what magic items a unit or
character will have whilst collecting the models - wait until you are working out a list
for a battle.
This is a good fighting force so far, but you really only have one option with it - march across the table, shrugging off missiles. Orcs can do this to a certain degree, but I wouldn't recommend it. As far as beginning your army goes, however, this is an excellent start and should keep you occupied for a month or two, or perhaps three. One thing to remember is this - apart from needing large units to survive battle anyway, greenskins are peculiar in that they need a certain number of troops in order to be able to use shamans. Any unit of less than 10 orcs and less than 20 goblins will not generate enough energy for a shaman to cast spells. I was buggered by not knowing this when I started my army, and was saved only by my obsession with a huge unit of black orcs. Start with large units and you will be all right.
Once you have this core force ready, it's time to build on it. Currently the army lacks any missile or cheap troops. Time for the arrer boyz and goblins.
Two units of ten arrer boyz. Bow. 75 points each. Yes, two units, neither with command
figures. Now, usually I demand
that all units have a champion, standard bearer and musician, but to begin with these two
units really don't need them. Later you can add them if you want, but for now they aren't
vital. The good thing (and later the bad thing) about the plastic orc boxes is that
you also get archers, which, unlike the swordsmen, are quite good. Unfortunately, should
you later want a second unit of Orcs but no more archers, the plastics become very
irritating.
10 arrer boyz. Crossbow. 85 points. The metal arrer boyz with crossbows look fairly good - however, I don't know if they are still available.
30 goblins. Light armour, shield, spear. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 158.5 points. The plastics are perfect. Remember, 30 is the minimum size you should ever consider for a unit of goblins of any type which are intended to see combat. You need large units to survive, and also need lots of troops to maintain Waaagh energy for your shamans.
Three units of ten night goblin archers. Short bow. 30 points each. Again, no command models - if these were merged into a single unit then it would merit command figures - but not right now. I suppose you could get them anyway if you felt like it - you never know when you might want them.
9 fanatics. 270 points. What the hell - grab all the fanatics you can field right now. Play around with them in the night goblin units - one battle take them all, another take only three. This is guaranteed to drive your opponent insane.
1 rock lobber. Light armour for the crew. 72.5 points.
2 doom divers. 100 points each. This is the second foray into the weird troops available (the fanatics were the first). Apart from being spectacularly dangerous to the enemy when you get the hang of them, doom divers distract almost all generals, making them paranoid. And I like the models and the concept of bat winged loonies...
This has become the second thousand points of your army, and you now have a
reasonable force with which to play. It covers almost all the different ways you might
like to play your greenskins (not all - some things like a large cavalry contingent can
wait because they are, quite simply, too specialised). You can now choose between getting
at the enemy quickly, or sitting back and waiting for them, peppering them with arrows as
they come. You also have units with which to set traps or completely mangle
the prized elites of the enemy, and some basic throw away troops for screening your more
important units. And now the ability to do large amounts of damage to stuff on the other
side of the table, just like they do to you. See how long it takes to exhaust all your
tactical options before you expand again.
When you get around to expanding again (and you will), you have plenty of choice. The "typical" plan ends here - this is where you specialise. There are several ways to do this. Here are four of the more common ones.
More tough troops.
The idea here is add to the strong core of boyz, big 'uns, and boar boyz.
20 savage orcs. Shield, hand weapon. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 224.5 points. The metals are great models. Don't use them skirmishing - these are for belting the hell out of the enemy, and skirmishing would lessen their impact.
20 black orcs. Light armour, shield, two hand weapons. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 275 points. The plastics are good enough.
10 savage orc boar boyz. Shield, spear, bow. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 398 points.
3 trolls. 195 points. I suggest river trolls, because of their combat bonus.
5 ogres. Light armour, second hand weapon. Standard bearer, musician. Can't have a champion. 301 points.
A cavalry contingent.
Get across the table quickly, smashing the opposition and protecting the slower troops behind you.
10 savage orc boar boyz. Shield, spear, bow. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 398 points.
20 goblin wolf riders. Shield, spear, short bow. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 274 points. Fast cavalry, and given shields rather than light armour to keep the cost down.
20 forest goblin spider riders. Shield, spear, short bow. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 274 points.
3 goblin wolf chariots. 1 extra goblin. Scythes, light armour, shield, short bow. 91.5 points each.
2 Orc boar chariots. Scythes, light armour, shield. 103 points each.
A night goblin horde.
Take all the weird and wonderful night goblin units you can get, and then flood the enemy with them.
A mob of 10 squig hunter teams. 20 goblins, 30 cave squigs. 664 points. No champion is required because this simply moves forward in a great wave, expecting to die.
20 netters. Half netters, half clubbers. Champion. 86 points.
8 squig hoppers. Hand weapon. 200 points. My favourite, if only because of the sheer stupidity of them.
3 night goblin shamans. 28 points each
A shooty army.
Sit back and wait for them to come to you, whilst shooting the hell out of them.
Two units of 10 arrer boyz. Crossbow. 85 points each.
2 big rock lobber. Light armour. 102.5 points each.
3 bolt throwers. Light armour. 52.5 points each.
2 doom divers. 100 points each.
Two units of 20 goblins. Short bows. 60 points each.
Of course, you could easily blend two or three of these approaches. It is now up to you to decide what to do. My third 1000 point section, designed to face anything, would look something like this:
2 night goblin shamans. 28 points each.
2 bolt throwers. Light armour. 52.5 points each.
15 black orcs. Light armour, shield, second hand weapon. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 222 points.
20 goblin wolf riders. Shield, spear, short bow. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 274 points.
3 trolls. 195 points.
Goblin hero. 33 points.
Orc hero. 72 points. With the trolls for his leadership when they eventually wander away from the general.
20 Goblins. Light armour, shield, halberd. Champion, standard bearer, musician. 125 points. Put the goblin hero here. This unit is guaranteed to catch the enemy off balance.
Now, those who go in for magic in a big way will note that I have mostly ignored magic items and banners. Well, they are not part of building a collection of models - they are only to be considered when actually working out an army for the field. At this time you will find that you will not be able to take everything you wanted or have - but at least you will have the opportunity to discard units rather than desperately promoting champions and buying more expensive items just to make it to your points total.
I have also ignored giants, forest goblins and snotlings. It isn't that I don't like them - I love the giant, and have used forest goblins to great effect. It's just that they don't fit into the "typical, dull, basic, but workable" army that I have set out here. Feel free to add them as you like - but try to keep them for the third installment.
I hope that this helps you - I have some of the units here, but not many. This is
because I was rather eclectic when buying them. I have most of the troops types
available - but there is a vast difference between having some of the models and having a
usable unit. Learn from my mistakes or else you will face the agony of trying to beat an
opponent who knows exactly what
you've got and will use because you didn't get it right to start with, and are stuck with
a doom diver, some gobbos, a few orcs, the occasional archer, and some rather useless
squigs. What fun ;)
squigger
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