special

Black Orcs

REALLY heavy infantry. Decent Weapon skill, Strength 4, Leadership 8, and standard Heavy Armor all contribute to make this one of your best units - and they can help mitigate animosity problems as well! At 10 points apiece they are still pretty cheap compared to other elites, but you'll probably want to give them a bit of extra gear, which will drive their cost up.

Black Orcs are a must for any infantry-based army. Their ability to quell animosity within 6" is invaluable if you have a lot of foot troops, in which case the place for them is near the center of your line. If you are putting a couple of screening units of goblins in front of your orcs, try to deploy them so that the Black orcs are within 6" of both of them. The last thing you want is some useless grots to start squabbling and holding up your whole battle line!

While they can pack a heck of a punch, though, you still NEED to support them. Your opponent probably has a healthy respect for them, and will send a lot of missile fire their way if he can. Expect them to become targets for Heavy Cavalry and monsters as well. Likewise, try not to send them into battle on their own - they are NOT invincible, even though they can take a lot of punishment. If you want your Black Orcs to get in a good round or two of butt-kicking, make sure that they have one or two sizeable units nerby to assist them with flank charges or combined assaults.

Another major concern is whether or not you should put your warboss in with them. The answer is "yes and no". If you DO put your warboss in with them then you have a real powerhouse unit. Your opponent will see a lot of victory points in one place and will either avoid the unit or else send his whole army after it. In either case you will need to play a canny game in order to insure that this unit gets it's points back. This kind of unit works well versus armies like Chaos or Dark Elves (or even Dwarfs) where you are likely to see more points concentrated in hard, expensive units. If you put your warboss someplace else, however, then you create a dilemma for your opponent insomuch as if he concentrates on annihilating your Black Orcs, the warboss may be free to cause problems elsewhere. I have played it both ways with equal measure of success. I would only say that if you plan on putting your warboss with the Black Orcs, make sure that he's a Black Orc Warboss himself or your opponents (not to mention the orcs) may give you some funny looks.

Finally on the subject of equipment you have three equally viable options: Choppa & Shield, Extra Hand Weapon, or Great Axe. My personal preference is for the great axe, because it allows your boys to hit at Strength 6, which makes them the hardest hitting troop available to you - even Boar Boys can't hit that hard! Occaisionally, though, you really want that 4+ save that the shield will give you, which is not too bad, considering you can still charge with that choppa at Strength 5. If I know that I'll be facing troops with low Toughness and/or generally low armor saves (like humans or elves) then I'll break out the extra hand weapons, but generally it's my last choice.

In a 2000 point game I always field Black Orcs in a unit of 20. Any larger and the unit starts to get prohibitively expensive (for orcs, that is).

Boar Boys

Fast AND Hitty, this unit was practically mandatory in 5th edition, which is one of the reasons why I don't have any in my army. What can I say? I love foot-slogging grunts! Also, while relatively cheap compared to other heavy cavalry, Boar Boys can be very points intensive for orcs.

A relatively modest unit of 10 regular boys with full command group costs 218 points, but you do get a significant amount of punch: The boys charge at strength 4 with their spears, the boars charge at strength 5, and they have a 3+ save. It's a pretty good value, even after you factor in animosity. Savage Orcs actually cost 1 point less, but they don't come with a spear, so you wind up paying the same amount anyway. You lose one point of Armor Save but gain frenzy as well, so it's still not a bad deal.

The big problem is that a lot of orc players just can't leave well enough alone, and before you know it these lads have gotten way out of hand. I mean, after all - if you're getting the Boar Boyz you might as well go for the Savage Boar Boyz (17 points), and of course they need the spears for +1 Strength on the charge (+1 point). And hey - if I really want them to hit hard on the charge, they should be Big-Uns (+4 Points)... and of course you need the warpaint (+3 points)... hmmm, the banner of butchery would go great in here (+25 points), let's see... 10 boyz plus command group comes to... 313 points?!? And I haven't even put a hero in there with porko's pigstikka which (with boar & lt armor & shield) will be another 125 points, which brings the unit total to 438. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. I suppose if you want to follow this to it's ultimate stupidity I could put the warboss in there instead of a Big Boss, but you get the idea. I'll grant you that this is a nightmare unit - on it's initial charge it will inflict 22-25 attacks at Strength 5. Let's be real, though: how often do you really need that kind of hitting power against a single unit? And if your opponent has even an inlking of what this unit can do he will likely lead those frenzied ladz on a merry chase off into a wood somewhere. Worse yet, he might hit them in the flank with something that causes fear and send them all back to the Great Green.

Most Orc players know better than to give in to such indulgences, but there is another thing to worry about with these lads: Because they are so much faster than the majority of your army, it is easy for them to get too far ahead too quickly and find themselves surrounded in enemy territory without support, in which case you can kiss those points goodbye, I don't care how hitty you are! While Wolf-riders have enough speed to generally keep themselves out of trouble when operating on their own, Boar boys do best when they have support... or better yet, when they ARE support. Like most heavy cavalry, they really shine when riding in from the flank to smash units that are being threatened or otherwise engaged by your foot sloggers. Leave the heroic charges to the Bretonnians, eh? Using them in this way, you can also keep your units smaller and therefore less expensive in terms of points. After all, you want to save some points for all the other wonderful "special" selections.

Night Goblin Squig Herd

I dicussed this unit breifly in the Night Goblin entry in the core troops section, but let me just re-iterate that this is a wonderful and wacky unit which you will certainly want to use if fielding an all-gobbo force. Squigs are strength 5, which can provide much-needed punch to the little grots. Assuming you can keep the herd in one piece long enough to reach the enemy line, that is.

Orc Boar and Globlin Wolf Chariots

Chariots are worth taking on the basis of their looks alone - especially the new plastic Boar chariot, which you can dress up will all those leftover bits from the new Orc Regiment box. It's pointless to debate their strengths and weaknesses - they're about equally effective relative to the points you're spending. I've got one of each, so when I feel like taking chariots, I usually take both.

Boar chariots in 5th ed. were seldom seen, not just because there was no model available, but because all you had to do was shoot one of the boars and the contraption was rendered mostly harmless. The new rules for chariots are one of the things that I think the designers really nailed in 6th edition, and as a result the Boar chariot has made a most welcome return to the old world.

Chariots of any stripe are definitely support troops, best used when charging in alongside infantry or cavlary. They tend to get chopped up on their own, although I have seen a dual chariot charge come off reasonably well.

Although this falls outside my own experience, I have been told repeatedly that putting characters into chariots is generally a bad idea for Orcs.

Rock Lobbas and Spear Chukkas

The one thing that truly disappointed me about the new 6th edition Rock Lobba is that it is now crewed by Goblins. I realize that orcs generally don't have the patience to work a war machine, but there is something about the ponderousness and sheer heavy-handed brutality of a rock lobba that just screams "Orcs!". Still, we roll with the punches.

I presonally prefer lobbas over chukkas because the lobba doesn't rely on the Gobbos very average Ballistic Skill. Besides, bolt-throwers smack of elves to my way of thinking! In either case, it's better to bring more than one if you really want to inflict some pain, although I've found that even a single lobba can prove annoying enough to the enemy that it will attract some heat that might otherwise be directed at your Boyz. Your biggest problem will be line-of-sight issues as your lads rush forward to get to grips with the enemy, so make use of a hill if you can. Otherwise, you'll have to put them out on a flank where they'll be vulnerable. You might consider pulling out some of those dozens of relatively useless Arrer-boy models off the shelf and using them as a guard detail if it amuses you. Bullies are definitely useful for keeping the grots from panicking under fire. If you're short on points, though, don't feel too bad about leaving them at home.