Deff Rolla

I have spent some time looking at some of the heavy metal options for the Orks. I do like a big bit of kit on the table and for whatever reason I seem to have a lot of good luck using them in game especially the Deff Dread.

However a particular option for the Battlewagon has caught my eye and it feels like a proper Ork addition to a vehicle - the Deff Rolla!

Deff Rolla

In the 8th Edition the Battlewagon has a WS and can therefore get stuck into Melee. Now there is a big change! So what can it do?

It has a WS of 5+ so a bit crap, it will need to roll 5 or above to hit. On the up side it has a S8 and 6 attacks. All in all, not great. Until you read the Deff Rolla rules. It has the Strength of the User, in this case 8, AP-2 and you add 3 to the hit rolls.....what?!

So now you get 6 attacks, hitting on a 2+ with a Strength of 8 so that it is double most infantry Toughness meaning 2+ to wound and AP-2 significantly reduces the armour save. Even against marines that is some serious damage. 6 Attacks needing 2+ to Hit, 2+ to Wound and armour save of 5+.

I think I need to get me one of these beauties! Bitz Box here I come.

Ultimate 2500 point Ork Walker army list

So today is the big day. Its 9am and I have already set up the board outside. Weather forecast is for a nice warm day with low wind. Perfect. Just had a text from the opposition to say that he is on the way so I need to get the kettle on. The Dark Templar is planning to Tweet key events during the day, (details on his blog). That will be a first for us and should be interesting.

So what army did I pull together? Your going to like this....

I have taken on board the Ork Walker discussions that have been going on and pulled a list together that I really love the feel of. It should really wipe the floor with anything being faced, he said confidently. It contains the Stompa, Gorkanaut, Deffdredd and 6 x Killa Kans. This is supported by a Battlewagon and Dakkajet. There is a unit of gretchin to make up the Troops numbers so that it is an Ork Horde Detachment granting Boss of Da Waaagh and The Greenskin Hordes special rules.

The plan remains - 'shoot the choppy and chop the shooty'

HQ (min of 1)
Warboss in Mega Armour, Lucky Stick, Bosspole (In the Battlewagon)
Painboy (with the Warboss)
Big Mek with Kustom Force Field (in the Stompa)
Mekboy (with the Warboss)
Mekboy (in the Stompa)

Elites
3 x Meganobs with kombi skorchas (in the Gorkanaut)

Troops (min of 3)
15 Boyz with Nob and Power Klaw, Bosspole (with the Warboss)
18 Boyz with Nob and Power Klaw, Bosspole, 2 x Rokkits (in the Stompa)
10 Gretchin with Runtherd and squig hound

Heavy Support (can take 4 because of the mission rules)
1 x Deffdread with close combat Klaws
6 x Killa Kans with skorchas
1 x Gorkanaut
1 x Battlewagon with 4 x rokkits, killkannon, ram

Fast Attack
1 x Dakkajet with 3 sups shoot as, flyboss

Lord of War
1 x Stompa

Note - the Battlewagon could easily be downgraded to a Trukk. Stick the Warboss in the Stompa and spend the additional points to get another Trukk load of Boyz at which point the Gretchin are not needed. No-one should be shooting at the Trukks anyway as there is too much other stuff that has amazing killing ability and they are Assault vehicles with could be advantageous.

So in theory, the Stompa goes straight up the middle moving and shooting anything that can shoot back. 'Shoot the Shooty'. Move him towards the most dangerous shooting attack so that he can 'Chop the Shooty' as soon as possible. The Boyz rokkits also shoot out of the Stompa. The Kans and the Dread follow behind moving and running to keep up. Move them towards shooty stuff. Again 'chop the shooty' as soon as possible. The Gorkanaut takes one side and again moves and runs. The battlewagon takes the other side and moves as far as possible. The Dakkajet is there to provide some arial support, if needed, and if not to just shoot from distance. The Gretchin can hang back and grab any objective at the back as the rest of the army surges forward.

The Kustom Force Field makes sure that any incoming shots bounce off the Stompa.

After the first turn everything in the Ork army is ready to descend on the enemy with awesome close combat abilities. Declare the Waaagh and give no mercy. The Boyz in the Stompa can hang on for a bit and get out later to mop up the remaining carnage, as can the meganobz.

Now all you Ork players just know that you want to give this a go. Waaagh!!!!!

The question is - what will happen when we start rolling dice? Will the plan survive or need to be altered? And so the fun begins.

Feel the need ..... the need for speed!

I used to run a Speed Freak army with hordes of Trukks, Buggies, Bikes, Wagons etc. It was a tournament army and a joy to play. Full out attack from the very start and very intimidating to play against, especially if I got to go first.

As such I have a lot of older vehicles including 5 or 6 old style Trukks and an investment from Forgeworld in the form of a battlewagon, which I love.

Bearing in mind how small the old Trukks were this was and still is a proper Orky brute.

Things have moved on and the new style Trukks and Wagons are great. Mind you we are still waiting for some new Buggies. The old ones just don't fit in any more.

I always loved the Buggies but the last Codex gave dominance to the Deffkoptas and I have loads of them. With this Codex the Warbuggy in just 25 points and has been given the Outflank rule. This means that they can arrive from Reserve from the side of the table. The  twin linked Rokkits are now free and you can have up to 5 Buggies in a unit. Now that is five shots looking for 5+, probably into rear armour with re-rolls. That should be 3 Hits really. This unit could pay for itself very quickly! A real menace!

The Trukk is the still the same old Trukk. At 30 points it can transport up to 12 models. It is still made of paper with Armour of 10 all round however it can now take a Rokkit for free. It also has Ramskackle as a special rule. When suffering a penetrating hit roll a D6. On a 6+ the Trukk suffers a Glalcing hit instead.

And then there is the Battlewagon at 110 points. Front armour of 14 is great and can transport up to 20 models. There are all kinds of options to add weaponry e.g. unto 4 Rokkit Launchas and then there is also the option to add a Kannon, Lobba, Zzap gun or indeed a Killkannon. After that there is a load of Vehicle Equipment that can also be added. Back in the day my view was that the primary job of the Wagon was to get the Boyz across the table and thereafter it became mobile terrain whose job it was to reduce line of sight on to the Boyz. Run it cheap and invest in the cargo was the motto.

I still have decisions to make for the big outing on Sunday but my feeling is that the Orks need transport of some description.