Celebrity Hit List

(I figure that there are more Terrorvision fans around than there were fans of obscure Arctic Monkey's b-sides yesterday)

I know that I said I would be cutting down on army lists on the blog, but this is more about the evolution of a list and the thinking that has gone into its construction. All of the discussion has been between myself and Andy and it started last Thursday when we were planning how to make this 750 Ork list into a 1000 point list for the club challenge. We thought that we'd keep the changes pretty simple, adding a third Deffkopta, putting Buzzsaws on all three, giving the Warboss a Power Klaw and then adding some Killa Kanz with the left over points. A couple of dys later, Andy e-mailed me the following list:

Warboss, Bike, Power Klaw, Cybork Body

4 Nob Bikers, Painboy, 2 Power Klaws, Waaagh Banner, Boss Pole

20 Slugga Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Killa Kan, Grotzooka

Killa Kan, Grotzooka

Battlewagon, Big Shoota, Deff Rolla, Armour Plates, Red Paint Job

So, a list that had seemed pretty good when brainstorming suddenly looked like it was a bit light on Boyz when written down. Hmm, the Kanz are a nice distraction, hopefully drawing fire away from the two assault units but they can go and 3 'koptas is probably one too many so we dropped those for another mob of Boyz:

Warboss, Bike, Power Klaw, Cybork Body

4 Nob Bikers, Painboy, 2 Power Klaws, Waaagh Banner, Boss Pole

20 Slugga Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole

20 Slugga Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Battlewagon, Big Shoota, Deff Rolla, Armour Plates, Red Paint Job

A much better looking list. However, in my ignorance of all things Orky, I still had a few questions:

a) Why the three Klaws in the bike unit? In my mind you can only kill things once and even if the Boss splits off, one should be enough for most combats. Especially with a maximum of four vehicles in each list, it feels a bit like overkill

b) Why Slugga Boyz not Shoota Boyz for the unit on foot? With my Marine hat on, I'd think that a unit on foot would want a bit more range should it choose to start shooting.

c) Why no Boarding Plank or Grot Riggers on the Battlewagon? From reading the Codex, they both look like cheap, useful additions.

Andy replied with the following list and the answers underneath:

Warboss, Bike, Power Klaw, Cybork Body

4 Nob Bikers, Painboy, Power Klaw, Waaagh Banner, Boss Pole

20 Shoota Boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, Power Klaw, Boss Pole

22 Slugga Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Deffkopta, Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Battlewagon, Big Shoota, Deff Rolla, Armour Plates, Red Paint Job

Fair comment on the Power Klaws, I've taken one out.

I've gone with Shoota Boyz in the Battlewagon because the BW can put them into charge range so they can get a round of shooting off to soften up a unit before the charge. The Sluggas go on foot becuase even then even if they get thinned out they'll still put out a good number of attacks in combat.

Boarding Plank is not really necessary if you have a Deff Rolla and while the Riggers are useful, I would expect that if the 'wagon is immobilised then it's going to get destroyed in the near future so they probably wouldn't get a chance to do anything.


I like the logic of the Sluggas on foot, it gives you more attacks. Plus it means you're more inclined to run them every Shooting Phase rather than trying to shoot anything which is never the Orks strong point. I don't really agree with the Shootas in the 'wagon though. I think that this comes from playing against Marines a lot. If you cause a lot of wounds then the Marines will just use Combat Tactics and you'll be left out of combat which is never a good place for an Ork to be.

As for the Boarding Plank, I thought that it would be useful against Skimmers with their 4+ Jink save against Tank Shocking. So, you avoided my Deff Rolla eh? Eat Power Klaw! However, I don't think that it will be an issue with the "maximum of 4 vehicles" rule in effect. With the Riggers, I think I'd take them since it only takes one lucky Lascannon shot to immobilise you on Turn 1 and then you're stuck on the wrong side of the board. Obviously, once you get past midfield, they lose their usefulness but it's a such a cheap upgrade and it's very handy if you get it to work at the right moment.


So, what was the point of this post? To prove how ungrateful I am that my friend spent his free time coming up with lists only for me to throw them back in his face? Well, it is a bit of mea culpa since I was feeling a bit guilty. However, the real purpose was to show how useful it is to talk to someone else when you prepare a list. It's always good to have someone to bounce ideas off when you're tinkering and it can be useful having to explain exactly what role you have planned for a unit. If you can't explain it, then you can probably lose it. Now, excuse me, I have another e-mail to send to Andy asking for yet more changes to the list :o)