Tactics: Ork Stormboyz

LOL Tau

Ahem, the Stromboyz are perhaps a life saver for Da Orks because of how fast they move to get to assault, especially when you are up against Tau.

Unfortunately for Da Stormboyz their Nob is the only thing that get to purchase upgrades. Here's an overview of them.

Special Rules:

• Mob Rule- Basic rule for Orks (Except grots.) lets you substitute the squad size as your Ld value and makes the unit fearless if your squad size is over 11.
• Furious Charge- Every Ork (Except grots.) has this. Grants +1 strength if this unit charged first in the assault phase.

In other words, a basic Ork setup for their special rules and is fairly common with other units in this codex.

The Wargear is the same setup as an Ork Boyz Mob:

• Choppa- The universal Ork tool. It's just a basic close combat weapon with no special rules or AP value.
• Shoota- An rundown ballistic firearm. Made from your local Mekboy. Think a bolter but with AP 6.

But there is one thing that this squad has aside from the Boyz:

• Rokkit Pack- You can't be a Stormboy without one of these. They do come at a cost because of how shabby they are built. whenever you move the unit for whatever reason, including falling back, roll a D6. On a 1 one of your models spirals out of control and lands head first onto the ground, then his Rokkit Pack explodes. Hilarity ensues. This does bring the diversity of this unit down because you have a 1 in 6 chance of losing a model for just moving 12" in the movement phase, running in the shooting phase (or shoot if you prefer), then move into a assault phase if you haven't ran in the shooting phase, and fleeing from said assault phase. Wow. There's no way you won't lose a single model unless you have reallllly lucky dice rolls.

Well aside from that little. . .item you basically don't have upgrades for anything but the Nob, like said above. Here's what he gets:

• It costs 10pts to include him in the squad.
• He can replace his Choppa for the following items:

1. Big Choppa at 5pts- Adds +2 to my strength and makes my strength 7 when I assault first? Lets me Instant Death any moron at toughness 3 who thinks it's funny to assault my squad? For only 5pts!? YES PLEASE.
2. Power Klaw at 25pts- Heed me on this: just take the Big Choppa and leave. Using this makes this guy look like an idiot. Why would you use something that is really not specified for this kind of unit? It makes your Initiative 1 this meaning that you WILL get shot up by overwatch before you reach the enemy. Also 25 frickin points? Seriously? This ain't worth it.

• May take any of the following:

1. 'Eavy Armour at 5pts- Makes your save 4+. Take it. Lets you live longer from being shot up by AP 5 weapons.
2. Bosspole at 5pts- Allows you to take moral test again if they failed by making the squad take a wound WITH save throws. Makes it easier to pass failed assault phases or something that requires morale tests. honestly I'm not sure if I would take. I don't see any negatives that potentially would kill half your unit, so your call if you want it.

He gets some very interesting items and can be very cheap, points wise, if you take him. but their is one thing that can make your unit Gods at killing squads within one assault phase:

Boss Zagstruck

This is who all Stormboy Nobz want to be: A badass who just pisses the hell out of your opponent. He costs 85 pts to field with your Stormboy squad  The difference profile wise is he has a higher WS, an attack stat of 4, a Ld of 9, and a 4+ Sv. 

Following is his wargear:

• Rokkit Pack: Sadly you suffer the same curse as other Stormboyz, but who says you can't use the others Stromboyz as fodder?
• Stikkbombs- Weep Warp Talons. Basic assault gernade with the same stats as one.
• Cybork Body- Grants 5+ invulnerable save, for those pesky instant death weapons.
• Choppa- Universal tool.
• Slugga- Basic worn down gun.
• Da Vulcha's Klaws- Special bionik legs fashioned from a dreadnought that ripped his legs off, then tore it from the inside out. Without legs. Same as Sly Marbo? Not entirely. Anyway, gives him a Power Klaw when he charges in an assault phase. His Initiative is still 4 when he uses it. Now this is what the Nobz want and sadly we can't deliver since Zagstruk has an overide to this rule.

All of his wargear is Perfect, except for the Rokkit Pack which has the effect same as regular Stormboyz Packs.
List of special rules:

• Mob Rule- Same as above.
• Furious Charge- Grants +1 strength when charging first in assault phase.
• WAAAGH!- Common warcry with all Orks. Has the ability to set off a WAAAGH!. This is used during your shooting phase, during this turn all Orks have the Fleet Special Rule. Except gretchins. Also to note is if you roll a one for movement, you suffer a wound, saves allowed, because your dumb Orks can't hold their act together before they reach the enemy.
• Swoop Attack- You must deep strike if you have Zagstruck in your Stormboy Squad. You cannot shoot when you land but instead may choose to assault when they come out. But if you do, you lose D3 models because faceplanting into the ground. That face your opponent will make when you use this is priceless, lets hope your opponent can deal with not having a certain Demolisher Squad for the rest of the game. But losing up to three models is totally worth it.
• Violent Temper- Think a better bosspole without the bosspole, but you must sacrifice a model in the process for being to pissed for failing a moral test. Dosen't work if he is the only one left in the unit.

One last thing is he gets five attacks after the first round of combat. How about that?

Besides Zagstruk, this unit has one primary roll which is Infantry hunting. basically the same as Warp Talons with less upgrades.
There are ways to use them efficiently, for one move across the field to take care of any unit that can take out more than half your army in a couple turns. You can use Zagstruk to take out that annoying vindicator that is destroying everything, if you don't kill the tank within one round leave and do it again until it blows up. But you will most likely still blow it up in one turn for having 5 strength 9 AP 2 attacks. ain't those Klaws wonderful? One last thing : have them when facing Tau, considerably at the maximum amount the unit can get, so you don't have to sit in tears as your army didn't move far enough to assault the Tau and got turned into swiss cheese.

And is it me or the Ork models don't seem to cost a lot of money? Maybe it's a good thing.