# Advice needed for starting an Orc and Gobbo Army



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

A little while ago I was thinking about playing WHF battle. I started getting Bretonnians as I was drawn by the bright colours and individualistic colour scheme.

Having got the army book, I decided that they were a bit straight laced (i will continue to do them at a later date as a painting challenge for myself) and have shelved them.

What I really wanted out of starting a new game was to have fun with the Minis and also playing. Tinkerbell is going to be starting a 40k Ork army and I was suddenly jealous and wanted to start Orks myself. But having two armies the same in the house seemed ridiculous.

I then remembered Orcs with a C too. I pondered this at work for a while and started to think of a theme for an Orc and Gobbo army (this will be revealed later). 

So after all that waffle to the point of this post. I have no idea about Orcs and Gobbos and was hoping to get a basic list of do's and dont's to help me start them up.

Also are the starter box sets worth having or is there naff units included in them.


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## Ancient Tiel' a fier (May 5, 2008)

Firstly the battleforce is excellent you get; 20 orc boyz, 20 night goblins, 10 forest goblins and an orc boar chariot. Its a lovely mix with the addition of the plastic lord (and battlestandard bearer) some boarboyz and goblin fanatics you can quickly gather a great army. And the painting schemes can be very diverse as is the army, there are simply loads of units to choose from. They are also a great army for laughs as things can go so wrong in the very best of ways.
A few quick battle tips, never trust a goblin they are cowardly little things. Orc boyz can take a suprising amount of punishment with there high toughness and never forget the power of a well timed waaagh!


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

All good advice from tiel there. Also the skullpass set is pretty damn good as well. So good i bought it when i already had the hardback rulebook. Nightgoblins are an essential part of your orc and goblin army in my book and its worth taking them by the bucket load. I pretty much field a minimum of 2 units of around 30-40.

Waagghh is awesome and when you get a good round your opp can be sent reeling.


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## angels of fire (Dec 4, 2007)

Battle for skull pass is almost a night goblin battleforce for £10 cheaper, definately worth it. They are a fun army to paint and play imo, whats the theme? Mines a snowy setting with some black orcs controling a Night goblin force and giant thrown in for the fun of it!


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## Druchii in Space (Apr 7, 2008)

Fanatics, lots of fanatics.. hehe, well at least a couple in each Night Elf unit. Okay I'd admit I've had battles with O&G where the fanatics caused more damage to me than my foes, but on average they really throw the cat amongst the pigeons v's nearly any army.

Black Orcs would be my second recommendation, especially with that lovely new plastic box (when I played O&G all mine where metal) and they are very hard on the charge.

Oh and I'd 100% agree with Jigplums, my wife and I just got back into Warhammer using this box as a tempoary refresher course to get used to the game again with small forces. The Gobbos are quite detailed and each type has 3-5 varients so not to bad on repeat models either. When I consider the last time Gobbo's where in the starter box, all you can say to this one is genius. Oh and the Spider riders are a nice touch as well. Well worth the cost, especially if you can trade the Dwarves for more Greenskins.


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## Green Knight (Feb 25, 2008)

I think mass assault works with orcs and gobins, and mass firing


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## bean (Jun 11, 2008)

i bought two skull passes its so good at value for money. so many goblins, and because they all have almost indentical poses no worries about ranking them up. also fanatics, very useful

netters are the ultimate life savers for night goblins units, enemies hitting you at strength two? always fun. whats that mighty chaos warrior, your wounding me on 4s now....ahh shame


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

very true any unit that your investing a few points on should have netters. -1str ftw


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## chaos vince (Jun 10, 2008)

fanatics are nasty! the havoc they wreak is awesome and sometimes it's just funny to watch them go all over the place. other than that its hard to go wrong with pure numbers


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

In the words of Depeche Mode (I think)...

"Everything counts in large amounts".

Lots of anything you take. Orc mobs 20+, gobomobs 30-40. No piddling 10 of this and 5 of that, leave that to the stoopid oomies. Great big wodges of troops.

Lots of archers. O&G is hardly an artillery-heavy army, you want at least one big block of Night Goblins throwing out 30-40 shots per turn, when they're not fighting or running away, which they do a lot. Arrer boyz are worth considering too - cheap as chips for small units, and you can always charge something with them if they can't manage to shoot it.

Savage orcs can be very mean. Savage orcs riding boars can be even meaner.

O&G have great light cav - everything that they ride (giant spiders, wolves and warboars) is a fighting animal. Gotta love that - not like a poncy 'horse', which as every Orc warlord knows, is merely high speed dinner with pudding on top, almost the very definition of 'fast food'.

Everything counts in large amounts 2: war machines. Always take them in pairs. I like chariots and bolt throwers, never used a Doom-diver but I'm told that they're very effective when they're effective, when they're not they're... not. Very not.

Best piece of advice to an Orc general just starting out, is that bit of Kipling about "if you can ... blah blah ... success and failure... treat them the same ... blah blah...", you know the one I mean. 

In other words: leave prissiness and over-competitive seriousness under a bush somewhere, along with battle plans and subtlety. You need to be able to laugh, shout and weep simultaneously if playing O&G. Cackling is not compulsory (though highly recommended).

:ha ha, another one falls to the inexorable green tide cyclops:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

_I hope nobody minds this little bit of necromancy, but the thread is almost perfect so it seemed better than starting a new one _

I am also thinking about getting into fantasy with the Skull Pass box and specifically the greenskins within. I used to really like the old metal giant model way back when I first started playing even though I never really got in to fantasy in a big way then. So basically I would like to know if, in addition to all that has been said here, trolls and giants are a good addition to Orcs and Gobbos?

I take it they are still stupid and need a character holding their hands?


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

I certainly don't mind, because I was reminded of a very good post I'd made.

Trolls are almost compulsory. it's a rare 2000pt list that doesn't have trolls, I'd reckon. Sometimes, you just need a few more heavy hitters. Yes, they're still stupid, and random, and sometimes dangerous; and sometimes they just run away. Sometimes the best thing about them is that the Dwarven Flamecannon was pointing at _them_ not your unit of Spider Riders (lets say). Because they can cause lots of damage, your opponent _has_ to take them seriously (even if you don't).

Never used a giant. You'll have to get someone else's opinion on that, sorry.

:big green cyclops:


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## mechgumbi (Jun 24, 2008)

I like using trolls or stone trolls. I tried using a giant once, but it trip over a fence, landed on either my black orcs or orc big'ins, and then was charged and killed by elves. So I still don't use Giants, but I like to put a mounted orc big Boss with my trolls to help limit the stupidity and make the unit even stronger.

Definitely use units of at least 30-40 night/regular gobbos and 20 orcs, unless they are Arrer Boyz, these are good at 10-20 per unit. I like using at least 2, and sometimes 4, bolt throwers in my army as well.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Cool, I like trolls, though I still really want a giant 

I was staggered to see that they are STILL using the same models for stone trolls and river trolls! I liked them 13 years ago and they weren't new even then! Is there much difference in terms of playability between river trolls and stone trolls? I seem to remember reading river trolls are rubbish somewhere?

So is an all goblin army with a few trolls and a giant an acceptable army, or should I get orcs too?


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## Sinioth (Feb 10, 2008)

squeek said:


> I was staggered to see that they are STILL using the same models for stone trolls and river trolls! I liked them 13 years ago and they weren't new even then!


:laugh:
They are classic though. If they ever do make new ones, I really hope they keep the look of them the same, maybe just new poses in plastic.



squeek said:


> So is an all goblin army with a few trolls and a giant an acceptable army, or should I get orcs too?


Couldn't tell you. I'm just starting an Orcs and Goblin army myself. Only I'm going to start it without the Orcs. Is it a viable force? No idea. Will it be as much fun as tackling a snowman? You bet!


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Yeah they are nice models definitely, but still very old in terms of GW models.

Are Orc and Gobbo players a bit shy or something?


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Why would old models make us shy? I don't get it...

In answer to your earlier question, Orcs, goblins, either or both... horses for courses or even tastes. There's no reason why you have to take orcs in an O&G army. Most people have some and some, but I know of successful all-orc or all-goblin armies (usually with trolls and or giants too).

Me I like to mix'n'match orcs, common goblins, night goblins and trolls, personally. Keeps everyone on their toes. But with enough trolls, chariots, spider-riders and what-not, you don't actually _need_ orcs.

:feeling somewhat redundant cyclops:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Red Orc said:


> Why would old models make us shy? I don't get it...


Yeah sorry about that, I wrote it when I was a little distracted, I meant how come not many O&G players are giving advice?  I was expecting some debate over how to use trolls or something, at least someone saying "don't use river trolls, whatever you do!" or something similar. 40k players never seem to tire of giving me advice 

Thanks for your help anyway Orc, I am planning on getting mostly night gobbos, with a few trolls and a giant and then see where I go I think!


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## crocodilesoldier (Aug 29, 2008)

'ello Squeak,

I've only played against them (being high elves meself) But giants are good large monster distracter as the random attacks he gets against them can be very strong (er, off the top of me head, head butbut can take dragons by surprise :blackeye
Stone trolls rengerate and river trolls are smelly, i think its a minus to hth or sommit like that.
As a victim to there attacks, fanatics, black orcs and pumpwagons always seem to hurt me.
Oh and if you can always get fast cavalry.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Thanks crocodilesoldier  So having skimmed through an army book, you can take normal trolls too? Are they any good, or should you always upgrade them? Just wondering before I go buying lots of naff models or something


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## Sinioth (Feb 10, 2008)

squeek said:


> Thanks crocodilesoldier  So having skimmed through an army book, you can take normal trolls too? Are they any good, or should you always upgrade them? Just wondering before I go buying lots of naff models or something



Stone trolls have magical resistance (2), and scaly skin (5+). 
Enemies fighting River trolls get a -1 penalty to hit. (they're that stinky)
Stats are the same for any flavor troll (Wait, that's disgusting...), but stone and river trolls cost more points.


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## viking75 (Sep 10, 2008)

crocodilesoldier said:


> 'ello Squeak,
> 
> I've only played against them (being high elves meself) But giants are good large monster distracter as the random attacks he gets against them can be very strong (er, off the top of me head, head butbut can take dragons by surprise :blackeye
> Stone trolls rengerate and river trolls are smelly, i think its a minus to hth or sommit like that.
> ...



and next time i will try to hurt you even more


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